The Democrat's Mistake

[Evilmav2]

The Democrat's Mistake

By Dick Morris.
New York Post

March 3, 2004 -- THE Democratic Party slit its throat last night, abandoning 12 years of pragmatism to indulge in a nominee who's very unlikely to win.
While John Edwards closed the gap that separated him from John Kerry, the front-loading of the nominating process proved too drastic to permit second thoughts. Once the Democratic voters had discarded Howard Dean and embraced Kerry, they did not have the dexterity to rethink Kerry in the light of the Edwards alternative.

Too bad for the Democrats: Edwards would have been a much stronger candidate in November than Kerry will be. He is not the extreme liberal that the front-runner is and has not had 20 years in the Senate to demonstrate how out of touch he is with American values and ideas.

The hurried judgment forced on Democrats by Terry McAuliffe's impatience has led to a miscalculation in which the party has put forward a weaker nominee than it might have, had the primaries lasted for more than a few weeks.

John Edwards, as a Southern moderate, has a charisma and style that Kerry lacks. His smooth-talking trial-lawyer appeal to a jury of voters would have made quite a contrast with President Bush's inarticulateness and awkward use of language. A debate between Kerry and Bush will be a clash of the verbally challenged.

But by nominating Kerry, the Democratic Party has chosen to embrace its left wing, eschewing the lessons it so dearly learned in 1980, 1984 and 1988. By marching to the beat of its activist minority, the party has once again put itself outside of the pale of mainstream thinking.

When John Kerry joined the extreme left in voting against the first Gulf War in 1991 or in opposing the Defense of Marriage Act - a bill backed by all but 14 ultraliberal senators and signed by President Clinton - he showed himself to be out of step with the center where most voters live.

George Bush's inability to appeal to voters on issues other than the War on Terror opened a door for the Democrats, but John Kerry will have difficulty fitting through it.

The lieutenant governor of Mike Dukakis will not wear well before the American people. His votes on taxes, terrorism and the death penalty will demonstrate that he is another in a long line of Massachusetts liberals who appear at first blush to be winners but who soon fade into also-rans.

Kerry has missed more than a third of the votes in the Senate during the current 108th Congress. This year, he has missed almost all of them. Voters will not be tolerant of a man who picks up his paycheck and doesn't do the job.

Bush is doing exactly the right thing in pouncing on Kerry the moment the polls close on Super Tuesday with negative ads that define him as the extreme liberal he is. Already, according to pollster Scott Rasmussen, 51 percent of voters feel that their taxes will go up if Kerry wins.

In the coming weeks, Bush will hammer at Kerry until we look back and wonder why we ever thought the Massachusetts senator could have won in the first place.

By then, of course, it will be too late. The nominating process is so frontloaded that the Democrats will be stuck with the flawed Kerry candidacy for months as he slowly twists in the wind.

Dick Morris: The Democrat's Mistake

[Mavdog]

The AP poll. Nader at 6%?
that's alot of people who don't want either of the two.
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AP Poll Finds Bush, Kerry Tied in Race
15 minutes ago Add Top Stories - AP to My Yahoo!

By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - In the first poll since John Kerry (news - web sites) locked up the Democratic nomination, Kerry and President Bush (news - web sites) are tied while independent Ralph Nader (news - web sites) has captured enough support to affect the outcome, validating Democrats' fears.

The Republican incumbent had the backing of 46 percent, Kerry 45 percent and Nader, the 2000 Green Party candidate who entered the race last month, was at 6 percent in the survey conducted for The Associated Press by Ipsos-Public Affairs.

Bush and the four-term Massachusetts senator, who emerged as the nominee Tuesday after a string of primary race wins over several rivals, have been running close or Kerry has been ahead in most recent polls that did not include Nader.

Since Nader entered the race Feb. 22, campaign strategists and political analysts have been trying to assess the impact of another presidential bid by the consumer activist whom Democrats blame for Al Gore (news - web sites)'s loss in 2000.

Four years ago, Nader appeared on the ballot in 43 states and Washington, D.C., garnering only 2.7 percent of the vote. But in Florida and New Hampshire, Bush won such narrow victories that had Gore received the bulk of Nader's votes in those states, he would have won the general election.

Exit polls from 2000 show that about half of Nader's voters would have backed Gore in a two-way race. Nader dismisses the spoiler label.

While Nader's support in the AP-Ipsos poll was 6 percent, his backing in polls in 2000 fluctuated in the single digits — often at about 4 percent, but sometimes higher. This year, Nader is unlikely to get the Green Party nod and faces a stiff challenge in getting his name on the ballot in 50 states.

Kenneth Freeman, an 86-year-old retiree from New Smyrna Beach, Fla., who leans Democratic, was clearly unhappy with Nader's presidential bid.

"Ralph Nader is fouling it all up," Freeman said. "He's taking votes away from the Democrats. I think he's on an ego trip."

Bush's job approval in the AP-Ipsos poll was 48 percent, with 49 percent disapproving, which is essentially the same as last month when 47 percent approved of the president's job performance.

His approval rating, which soared close to 90 percent after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and remained high for months, has dipped to the lowest levels of his presidency in recent weeks.

Six in 10 said the country is on the wrong track, up from last month, while slightly more than a third of those surveyed — 35 percent — said the country is headed in the right direction.

"We're 240-something days from Election Day. We've got a long way to go and expect it to be a close race throughout, no matter what the factors are," said Terry Holt, a spokesman for the Bush campaign.

The poll was conducted Monday through Wednesday as Kerry captured nine of 10 Super Tuesday elections and claimed the nomination. Nightly results suggested that Kerry did not get a bounce from winning the nomination.

"For all those who want to bring change to America, we need to remain united behind the Democratic nominee," said Kerry campaign spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter.

Kerry, who had solid backing from 28 percent of the voters, was running strong among minorities, people with low incomes, single people, older voters and Catholics.

Bush, who had solid backing from 37 percent, performed well among whites, men, Protestants, homeowners and suburban dwellers.

"I'm worried about the Democrats taking control," said Stephanie Rahaniotis, a Republican from Lynbrook, N.Y. She said after the Sept. 11 attacks, she feels safer with Bush in charge and thinks Democrats will "divert our attention from the military."

In the poll, Nader was most likely to get the backing of young adults, independents and maybe a GOP voter.

Republican Virgil Ahlberg of Apison, Tenn., said he is seriously considering a vote for Nader.

"Bush has come across as a little more aggressive and warlike than I like," he said. "I like Ralph Nader being in the race. I like his practicality and taking people to task for things they promise to do, things that aren't being addressed."

The AP-Ipsos poll of 771 registered voters was taken March 1-3 and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points

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[reeds]

Nader will screw it all up again...just like last time...when GORE dominated the overall vote..but got screwed in florida...thank Nader for that. Strange thing is, Nader knows along with the rest of the Democrats how terrible Bush is for this country, so why does he run..He would much rather have a Democrat in office vs. Bush...frustrating....

[MavKikiNYC]

I guess the interesting question is why Nader doesn't think Kerry is up to the task.

[FishForLunch]

Yes we prefer Kerry atleast he will treat the Islamists, France, Germany ,Russia and UN with respect. What a caring guy.

[Rhylan]

I think reeds' definition of dominate is interesting. If Gore dominated the national vote, I suppose the Lakers dominated Houston last night, 96-93?

[Drbio]

good point Rhylan.

[LRB]

Actually the only candidate to dominate the 2000 Presidential election was "None of the above". There were people not voting than voting.

[dude1394]

Originally posted by: reeds
Nader will screw it all up again...just like last time...when GORE dominated the overall vote..but got screwed in florida...thank Nader for that. Strange thing is, Nader knows along with the rest of the Democrats how terrible Bush is for this country, so why does he run..He would much rather have a Democrat in office vs. Bush...frustrating....

Thank the lord for nader then... I think a little bit had to do with the "thursday surprise" and the media calling florida an hour before the polls closed in the most conservative portion of the state. But hey Gore was a great candidate, look what he did for howard dean.

Gore's support is the kiss of death, thank the lord we don't have it now.