Aside from Lieberman, who is the most conservative Democratic candidate?

[boxster]

Poll question: Aside from Lieberman, who is the most conservative Democratic candidate?

I think that there is a general consensus that Lieberman is our most conservative candidate.

Discounting Joe, who is the next most conservative?

Note: this is basically _Jumper_'s recent GD posting converted to poll form (thanks, Jumper). I'm posting it in poll form as I think the early responses to that posting were quite interesting.

For no reason other than to be a little different, I put the candidates in their current order according to the latest Zogby SC poll, the merits or accuracy of which we certainly don't need to debate!

[pinto]

1. Bush*

[boxster]

3. Yep, sorry - edited to more precisely reflect my intention.

Thanks.

[_Jumper_]

2. Mods

Don't lock this as a dupe; lock my original thread. Thanks.:)

[corporatewhore]

4. Howard "nra death penalty"dean or wesley "DLC" clark

They are all pretty conservative except for kucinich and sharpton who i think are the only sane cannidates

[Bombtrack]

5. Wesley Clark has never been officially affiliated with the DLC

or even really linked with the organization. He's associated with associates of it, but so is every candidate other than Sharpton or, as far as I know, Kucinich.

Dean on the other hand was on the DLC website until he left office and embraced the most important DLC causes as govenor and as NGA chair

[corporatewhore]

8. thanks for telling me

didnt know for sure i realize i should not of said that (something a rw press would do ) thanks for tellin me

[arewethereyet]

15. but he's only recently been associated with the Party

I think we all recall where he served before.

[boxster]

9. Pretty conservative compared to whom?

I think Carol Moseley-Braun, for one, might be a little offended to be called a conservative.

Here's a site that does a decent job of organizing and rating the candidates' views on the issues: http://www.issues2000.org/default.htm

[Bombtrack]

6. it's all very abstract, there really is no objective way to decide

I didn't vote.

[boxster]

7. Their stances on the issues are a place to start...

though I agree that any analysis can be left up to a lot of subjective interpretation.

[CalebHayes]

10. Please... It's not Dean.

I don't think he is super liberal but he is NOT the most Conservative for sure.

[PurityOfEssence]

11. Let's look at it:

Sharpton, Moseley-Braun and Kucinich are most definitely to the left, so let's cross them off the list.

Kerry, Edwards and Gephardt are all strong liberals, whether you like them or respect them or not: they've got long and unbroken track-records on unionization, workers' rights and trade policy. Their championing of the social safety net has been consistent, and they're not pro-regulation. In short, they have better records on helping the disenfranchised, and for being harder on big money and large corporations.

Holy Joe is indisputably the most conservative of the bunch, but even he has a very solid civil rights and workers' rights record; he falls apart on foreign policy and his coziness with the accounting profession.

That leaves Clark. Admittedly, you have to "trust" him on his positions, since he's not been in a position to have shown them, but his education initiatives within the Army is hardly to be sneezed at. Whether he means it or not, the issues he's brought forth put him to the left of Dean.

That leaves the answer being Dean.

That's not a thorough dismissal of Dean; we also have to provide a leader for the country who somewhat reflects the country, rather than attempting to cram our tastes down the electorate's throat. (That's a sense of societal duty that's seldom addressed, sorely lacking and most heinously subverted in situations like Florida '00.)

Do you agree?

[boxster]

13. It appears that most people disagree with you.

So who is the most conservative, in your opinion, and why?

Dean's pretty moderate, especially on the fiscal side. I'm not terribly surprised at the results of this poll.

[NNN0LHI]

12. Lieberman is less conservative than many Democratic candidates

He is only the most hawkish of them all. Being hawkish or dovish is only one issue of many. Compare the whole records of all the candidates and you will see what I say is true.

Don

Edit: I did not vote in this poll because I do not believe the premise of the question.

[boxster]

14. According to issues2000.org, Joe is the closest to "moderate",

but they certainly aren't the only source available. Joe is certainly more liberal than we tend to give him credit for.

You're right - his hawkishness has made him a target. I find it interesting how many people fully supported him in 2000 and now call him everything short of the anti-christ three years later. His policies and politics haven't changed THAT much.

Regarding the premise of the question, my intention was to see if DU, in general, agrees that the front-runner for our nomination happens to be the most conservative candidate currently running.

I think this is quite interesting, because Clinton and Gore were both certainly moderates. In a way, it shows that the party really hasn't moved as much as we would expect. Gore's support of Dean shows that Dean is much more "mainstream" than the media (or the candidate, for that matter) would have us believe.

[TexasSissy]

16. Edwards, without a doubt.

[Freddie Stubbs]

17. Edwards had a more conservative voting record that Lieberman in 2002