Clark beats Bush 49 to 40 percent in poll

[maggrwaggr]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030826/1...

Stunning Zogby Blind Bio Results Turbo Charge Draft Wesley Clark Effort; Pledges Reach $800,000

DraftWesleyClark.com, the national campaign to draft former General Wesley Clark for President, has experienced an explosion in traffic and energy in the wake of its release of stunning results from a Zogby poll commissioned by the group. Using a "blind bio" approach, the poll showed General Clark defeating all current Democratic candidates, and beating President Bush 49.4 percent to 40.2 percent. (see http://www.DraftWesleyClark.com/poll.htm for full results)
(snip)

[mjb4]

1. fake polling to get DEAN out

seems so obvious.....

[farmbo]

2. Dupe...about eight times over

EOM

[maggrwaggr]

3. oops. didn't see it. Looked, I swear!

nt

[Spazito]

6. I don't think it is a dupe...

as this is the first newsreport of the poll, taken from Yahoo. I think the others were just reporting on the CSPAN conference.

[dfong63]

13. it's not a news report, it's a PRESS RELEASE

sheesh...

[Spazito]

15. It may be a press release but this is the first time it was on a

newssite not just from the draftclark site ergo, not a dupe.

[dfong63]

19. it is a PRESS RELEASE from the draftclark campaign -

the fact that it appeared outside their web site doesn't give it any more credibility. it's still breathless hype that came verbatim from draftclark.

[Doctor Pedantic]

4. Meaningless Poll

How would any of the other candidates do in a "blind" poll vis a vis Bush or Clark? 50%? 60%? 90%?

This is a very clever way to turn Clark's lack of name recognition into a positive ("they may not know him now....but once they will, they love him!"). However, there's nothing to compare it to and the numbers are ultimately meaningless.

This doesn't mean Clark wouldn't be a strong candidate -- I just think it's more impressive that this same poll shows he'd instantly be in the top 5 Democratic nominees than that it shows that people generally like his anonymous biography....

[Robin Hood]

7. Wow!! Dean supporters sure are touchy.

And not very open to any suggestions or candidates.

[Doctor Pedantic]

12. Hey Now!

I was just addressing the significance of the poll, not Clark's worth as a candidate. I would feel the same way about the poll if it had presented Howard Dean as the only "blind" candidate.

And didn't I refer to the poll as "clever" and note that Clark had an "impressive" showing as a named candidate?

That's the kind of guy I am -- fair and balanced, baby!

[dfong63]

14. doubly meaningless

This doesn't mean Clark wouldn't be a strong candidate -- I just think it's more impressive that this same poll shows he'd instantly be in the top 5 Democratic nominees than that it shows that people generally like his anonymous biography....

a "blind bio" can conveniently leave out the negative stuff about one candidate, while emphasizing the negative about his opponent. or subtly inflate one side's accomplishments, while giving short shrift to the other's. who wrote the bio's for this poll? if the repubs did a "blind bio" poll where they wrote the bio's, can you guess who'd win? what rankles me is that this IS the kind of meaningless PR stunt that the repubs would try to pull.

[MGKrebs]

5. Hey, what's one more candidate?

9 or 10, doesn't really matter. Let him declare and let's see what happens!

[Loki]

8. I don't care what it takes or who wins the primary

I want these thugs out of the White House and the Republican party in ruins. I want my goddam country back, and whomever is willing to put their name on the line and fight for it will have my vote. I had all I can take of these MBF's and the religiocrazies that want to turn this country into a neofundy's wet dream.

[iam]

21. Brother,

I'm right behind ya. Almost anyone who will strip conservatism to the bone and grind what's left into dust is my candidate.

Liberalism is Liberty

[lanlady]

9. blind bio polls are interesting

The respondent is presented with a list of characteristics and credentials that describe each candidate, without the name. This is to eliminate name recognition bias. It was used to predict, for example, McCain's strong showing in the NH primary vis-a-vis Bush in 2000.

[dfong63]

11. of course, the blind bio's can be slanted

by selective inclusion of info, to make either candidate look better. any poll is subject to manipulation, and this type is especially susceptible. the Clark worshippers must be pretty desperate if they have to resort to this kind of garbage.

[GreenArrow]

16. In this case

the blind bio did not include Kucinich, Sharpton, or Mosely Braun.

It would have been interesting to see how they would have fared.

[MissMarple]

10. We're lucky to have so many good candidates.

Many of them have strengths that would serve us well in government; VP, Secretary of Defense, Treasury, State, Energy(oh, I forgot, that's the VP's job), and so on. I think Gary Hart(not running) would make an excellent Secretary of State.

I just hope we don't end up destroying our own before this is over. So far, it hasn't been too bad. They should, I believe, think more as a team than a bunch of strangers who happen to be competing against each other. They are some of our best, and they should conduct themselves, as should we, with respect for the the future of our country and what brings us together in the public sphere.

She said, descending from the soap box.

[goobergunch]

17. Hurray, a Blind Bio poll...

note that Clark dropped to 5th place when they mentioned his name.

[dfong63]

20. yes, hurray

the same poll showed Dean has over 3x the support that Clark has!! so if Clark beats Bush in the blind bio, and Dean beats Clark, then OBVIOUSLY, Dean must be an unbeatable candidate.

but oh, wait, that's not the proper spin. the proper spin is that only Clark can beat Bush. excuse me!

who wrote the "blind bio's"? what would the poll result have been if the repubs had written them, hm??

well i'll give them (draftclark) one thing, it is impressive that they were able to raise enough money, that they have the cash to waste on meaningless PR stunts like this.

[fizzana]

18. If Clark is the Democrat candidate I would support him,

if Dean is the candidate, I would support him, if Kerry is the candidate, I would support him, if Edwards is the candidate I would support him, if Lieberman is the candidate.........we're fucked.

[Gman]

22. If a low down Yellow Dog runs as a Democrat and gets nominated

I will vote for him

[smaug]

24. Absolutely!

This election cycle, anyone except a Rethuglican - especially yellow dogs . Period. In ALL political races this year. GOTV.

[jcc]

23. We need a Yin Yang combination to win this election...

I would support a Dean/Clark team. I think that it may be our only chance of winning.
I have not yet decided who to support, but I can guarantee you that if Dean wins the Dem ticket, unless he learns something about strategy he will lose and we will be stuck with another four years of the psycho warlord.