Kerry leads Dems in Tennessee poll

[Feanorcurufinwe]

Senator about even when pitted against Bush

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry is slightly ahead in Tennessee's Feb. 10 Democratic presidential primary race and would be about even with President Bush if the November general election were held today, according to a new statewide poll. Of 313 likely Democratic primary voters polled, 31 percent said they would vote for Kerry. Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark was second with 22 percent and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards third with 13 percent.

The telephone poll was conducted Wednesday and Thursday for The Tennessean and the Chattanooga Times Free Press by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research of Washington D.C. The margin of error is plus or minus 5.7 percentage points. Asked whom they would vote for if the primary were held today, 7 percent said former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, 6 percent Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman and 3 percent civil rights activist Al Sharpton. Eighteen percent said they were undecided.

In a separate poll of 400 registered Tennessee voters who said they vote in state elections - Democrats and Republicans - Kerry was about even with Republican President Bush if the general election were held today. Forty-seven percent chose Bush, and 43 percent Kerry. Ten percent said they were undecided. That Mason & Dixon poll also was conducted by telephone Wednesday and Thursday for the two newspapers. The margin of error is plus or minus 5 percentage points. In one-on-one contests against the president, Clark and Edwards would lose to Bush by nine percentage points each. Dean would lose to Bush by 17 percentage points.

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"He's still popular in Tennessee, but if things start to go bad nationally, there's a possibility the state could become competitive for the Democrats," Coker said. "Kerry, Clark and Edwards are all viable candidates in Tennessee. Dean would be disastrous for Democrats in Tennessee."

[MurikanDemocrat]

1. Didn't TN go to Bush in 2000?

Was it a swing state?

[sandnsea]

2. Al Gore's state n/t

[Feanorcurufinwe]

4. Yes, but we can win TN

let's just say, Gore won more votes than any candidate in history, but it could have been even more.

[Straight Shooter]

3. Bible Belt state. Nothing predictable about them.

Not surprised they turned their back on Gore and chose bush. Some people think Nader cost us the election. It was Tennessee, not standing by their native son. Florida would have been a non-issue, and the world would be a better place.

Then again, it is the state that had a "pay the governor and get out of prison" game, quite a scandal at the time.