Biden, Dodd or Richardson, which one of the 3 gives the top tier a run. . .

[wndycty]

. . .for their money? Which one of these three can become the fourth candidate in the top tier or may even replace a top tier candidate?


Of course I expect to get grief from Kucinich supporters but I'm trying to be realistic.

[billyoc]

1. Richardson, I think. I don't support him or any other DLC candidate,

but of those three, I'd say he's best poised to get more support as the primaries draw near.

[wndycty]

5. I like Richardson's resume. . .

. . .if he were more of attractive candidate I think he could be really potent. By being a Governor he has the executive office and domestic credentials, by being a former ambassador to the UN he has a good foreign policy background.

[seasat]

12. I'll add another for Richardson

The main reason Richardson is not in the top tier is that he is lousy in most debates and adversarial interviews. He comes across as unsure, unprepared, and meek. His stump speeches are usually pretty good and his interviews where, he is prepared and rested, are pretty good. He has even done decent in some of the debates where he was rested and prepped.

However, his gaffes and rambling answers in some of the debates have hurt him by providing recorded incidents that his opponents can use against him. The media loves a screwup by a political figure. They are not going to publicize his clarifications as much as they are his actual gaffes.

He needs to get a great debate coach and to debate drill every spare minute. He needs a better research staff to prep him before each debate or interview. He's up against senators that spend their entire career debating on the Senate floor. He'll never break into the top tier without some improvement on this front. If he does manage a major improvement in his debate and interview performance, he'll be in the top tier before the primaries start.

[Jim Sagle]

2. None of them. It'll be Hil, JRE or Obama.

[wndycty]

6. LOL Death is not an option. . .

. . .so if you were to say ONE of them could emerge and join the top tier which one would it be.

[bunkerbuster1]

3. I always figured Richardson was the "undervalued" candidate

As a current, well-known governor, and a man with excellent national/international chops, all he has to do is polish his onscreen persona a bit to shake things up.

Whereas I think Biden and Dodd are probably playing up to expectations. Both present themselves very well, though.

[Look My Way]

18. Richardson has not had a good debate !

He just doesn't project well. His limit is the Hispanic vote.

[Connie_Corleone]

4. Biden maybe.

Richardson may have experience but he comes off as not knowing what he's saying sometimes or some of his ideas just won't work in the real world. At least that's my perception of him.

[monmouth]

7. Biden definitely.

[annm4peace]

8. I would pick all three over Hillary or Obama

I would also pick Kucinich. I thought Kucinich gave the best real and measurable answers to the questions. Richardson and Dodd came in 2nd with giving measurable answers after that.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

9. Biden is becoming more compelling in his delivery, and he knows foreign policy inside and out.

His vote for the bankruptcy bill still bothers me.

MKJ

[Peace Patriot]

10. Dodd. Because Diebold and ES&S owe him a big favor.

Dodd was the chief Democratic perp who worked so hard with the biggest crooks in the Anthrax Congress--Tom Delay and Bob Ney--to bring us electronic voting in extremely insecure and insider hackable voting machines run on "trade secret," proprietary programming code, owned and controlled by rightwing Bushite corporations, with virtually no audit/recount controls and no lobbying controls.

Of all those in the running for emperor with no apparent constituency, he's my bet for a surprise "dark horse" showing in some early primaries, that will put him in a position to broker a deadlock between the major dauphins, or to be picked as candidate for vice emperor. And who knows? Considering the size of favor he did for Diebold/ES&S, he may end up with Charlemagne's crown. I think of Dodd as the Bilderberg Group's stealth candidate.

Also, the way it works--inside those mysterious whirligigs behind the curtain--the votes thrown to Dodd and/or to other special interest candidates can be taken from whoever these rightwing corporations want to stop. Say they want to stop Edwards (which looks likely). They can distribute some of his votes to Dodd, Richardson and Biden (all of whom have dirty fingers in either e-voting or the military-industrial complex, or both), or even to Kucinich (who is probably honest, and seems true blue American (non-corporate) on policy, but has big ears), without raising any eyebrows at all, and without detection. Who would notice 1% here, 2% there, among Democrats, that cumulatively (and unnoticeably) favored, say, Hillary Clinton.

Clever, these machines.

And guess what Richardson is best known for in election reform circles? Stopping the 2004 recount in New Mexico (battleground state tweaked to Bush), by slamming a one million bond on the Green/Libertarian groups that were trying to get the goods on that election theft. Diebold/ES&S owe him one, too.

Nice lot of contenders we have here. With the exception of Kucinich, any one of them would be a disaster as emperor, and collectively they give the owners of our election system a lot of wiggle room to fiddle the results.

We might as well just do it the way the Vatican does: secret vote among the cardinals, send up white smoke when the powerful insiders in the swishy purple robes decide among themselves who gets to be Pope.

You think the powers-that-be are going to let YOU AND ME have say? Get real. They've got their "Holy Roman Empire" 'voting' system locked into place, and they're going to USE it.

---------------------------

Sorry, it's hard to resist sour moods after you've learned even the barest facts about Diebold/ES&S. I DO think we've got a wonderful country and a vibrant democracy beneath the surface of things, and I think that the American people--who have shown such amazing resistance to relentless warmongering and 24/7 fascist propaganda--are a-boil with the revolutionary spirit of 1776. Just consider that 56% of the American people--a significant majority--opposed the Iraq War way back just before the invasion (Feb. '03)--56% would be a landslide in a presidential election (and believe me, it was)--and it's now grown to 70% against the war--an overwhelming majority, an antiwar majority of epic proportions, that rivals the antiwar majority in Russia during WW I, just prior to the Tsar's demise.

I believe in the American people. I think they have been damned bewildered as to why their democracy is not working right, but are an overwhelmingly peace-minded and justice-minded population, and are catching on very fast, with grass roots groups and activists springing up all over the landscape, trying to un-rig the voting system. It's the political establishment--that RIGGED the voting system--that I don't believe in, and that we need to be VERY suspicious of.

Whatever we are forced to accommodate ourselves to (say, Empress Hillary for four or eight years), we need to keep our eyes on the prize, and focus as relentlessly on transparent and clean elections as the fascists have focused on secrecy and filthy money 'campaigning.' We MUST restore vote counting that everyone can see and understand--as a start. It is the foundation of democracy. Without it, we have no power and we cannot change ANYTHING. We can outvote the machines, in some cases; we can match the fascists dollar for dollar; but we can never flip the fascist majority in Washington DC into a truly representative, democratic majority.

[draft_mario_cuomo]

11. Richardson. He is essentially on par with Obama in Iowa and Edwards in NH

The latest Nevada poll has him rapidly rising and moving into the double digits in 4th. In the early states, aside from SC, he is already a top-tier candidate. Biden seems to be moving up as well, but at a far slower rate. That said, he seems to be on his way to emerging as the clear #5 candidate just like Richardson emerged as the #4. Can they make the leap to contending for the nomination? I think it would be a mistake to count either out. It is early so I won't dismiss Dodd but he has hovered between 0-1% in the polls all year, lagging behind Kucinich and even Gravel in some polls. He has had no traction thus far. His campaign revolves around his experience but Biden, Richardson, and even Clinton (in the eyes of most voters) have him beat there.

[Colobo]

13. Biden.

[jillan]

15. Coming from you means alot :)

[Jillian]

14. About Richardson - I really like his resume' but -

he comes off as ---I'm desperately trying to find the right words here -- all I can think of is he reminds me of a regular guy, not a leader. He looks insecure half of the time.

I can't picture him sitting across the table of someone like Saddam or Kim Jong Il and commanding their respect.
He just seems to be lacking that leadership quality, a strong presence.

[polichick]

22. And yet he's already had lots of facetime with such leaders...

...and was supposedly great at it during the Clinton administration.

[Look My Way]

27. That is a very big word, SUPPOSEDLY ! n/t

[Look My Way]

16. Biden, he should be there now.

He has more experience, knowledge and charisma than all of the top three, he just doesn't have the name recognition yet.

[saltpoint]

17. Politics can be a strange, cubist thing, and one read of circumstances

from one angle at one moment may morph into a different read at a later time and place.

I wouldn't rule out a Kucinich surge. On passion alone, that man is a force. He needs some luck and had best not look to the media to find it.

I think Chris Dodd is running for the Sec. of Commerce spot in a 2008 Democratic Cabinet, or maybe the vice presidency, but I rate his odds at breaking into the "first tier" as remote at best.

Biden is an adept in foreign policy and the Iraq headlines dont seem to be getting any better. There's the recipe ingredients right there for a Biden uptick. I think he finishes in the top 3 in Iowa. Ahead of the junior senator from New York.

Richardson's numbers have already risen in key states. At our house, we've already projected Bill Richardson the winner of the Nevada caucus. He wants the top job on the ticket. If he doesn't get it it won't be for lack of trying or absence of qualifications. Look for Richardson on every short list for veep nom there is, bar none.

Obama hasn't peaked yet. He's doing just fine and the money's coming in from many small donors, but he hasn't peaked yet. When he does he's going to make the Repubicans pee their pants and wish that THEIR primary field weren't a choice of thugs, cretins, crooks, and psychos.

John Edwards will need a break in the field or in some other combination of circumstances to poll alongside Clinton and Obama, at least as things stand now, but if he wins the nomination in Denver, he will ride a huge electoral college landslide into the White House.

Hillary Clinton is the frontrunner now and absent a slip-up of her own making, or her campaign's making, she's going to be heavily favored for the top of the ticket. If she prevails against such a tough, talented field of Democrats, she'll likely crush the Puke nominee, no matter who it is.

Hart, Clark, and Gore are yet to be heard from. Rumors careen wildly and some of them are pretty juicy rumors. The Nobel Prize Committee may be very influential in the Democrats' 2008 ticket.

[Totally Committed]

19. None of the above.

That's why I am still hoping that someone not yet in the race throws his or her hat in, and takes the election and runs with it.

TC

[mrgorth]

20. Biden

Noone is going to vote for another liberal, New England senator again and Richardson doesn't sound sincere at all. I was hopeful for him in the beginning but he's grating on me now. Biden sounds sincere and affable.

[mrigirl]

21. Biden

All the way!! Once again- he has the most experience and most hardcore knowledge of foreign policy and domestic issues. I would feel extremely confident w/ Biden in the Oval Office. Finally someone who is sincere and honest!!! And comes from a normal middle class environment that has actually EARNED and worked hard for what he has.

[murbley40]

23. Biden

Expert on foreign policy,strong family values, is not a millionaire, believes in leveling with the people, experienced on domestic policy, and I could go on and on.

[SaveElmer]

24. Until the debates I thought Richardson...but Biden has performed better...

So if anyone...Biden...

But unless something really shakes loose I don't see any of them breaking through at this point...

[Look My Way]

28. If anyone can shake things loose, it's Biden. n/t

[saltpoint]

31. Agree. I note Richardson's climb in the polls, but I think Joe Biden has

had the better summer.

[cobalt1999]

25. Gore is the only one who can join Hillary/Obama/Edwards.

The remainder have no chance unless one of the leaders, as Edwin Edwards once said, "is caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy".

[NewYorkerfromMass]

26. Dodd. He's just better

than any of them.

[sniffa]

29. richardson

out of those 3.

[demommom]

30. kick

:kick:

[snowbear]

32. Dodd is best in debates, Biden is best on Iraq, and Richardson is best on experience..

And each of them have pros and cons..

If I had to give one of them a slighter edge than the other two, it would have to be Richardson for being a highly succesful Governor (chosen in the top 5 in the nation last year) ..

And for having such an incredible resume in regards to foreign affairs, knowledge of North Korea, top notch negotiating skills, and domestic policy and executice experience gained from being elected two terms as New Mexico's Governor.

Damittall, he just can't debate worth beans!!