Bandwagon loses wheel, band

Bandwagon loses wheel, band
: With 88 percent of the votes in, Kerry wins with 38; Edwards 32; Dean 18; Gephardt 11.

Gephardt is dropping out, CNN just confirmed.

: MSNBC’s exit polls here. Some fascinating results:

: Edwards strongest with women.

: Kerry skews old.

: Kerry skews labor.

: Dean doesn’t really command the Internet demo.

: Kerry’s supporters were very last-minute.

: Kerry has strong support among those who support the war. Ditto Edward and Gephardt. In short: The war is not a winning issue. Said it before. Say it again. The war is not the war.

: Kerry’s experience was a huge factor in his favor (and Edwards’ inexperience hurts him).

: Education’s a big issue.

: Dean stands out on nothing but the war.

7 responses to “Bandwagon loses wheel, band”

  1. EB Avatar

    I guess Dean will be *really* angry now…. deep breaths Howie, deep breaths… count to 10.
    ;^)

  2. Swopa Avatar

    Probably a little early to celebrate Dean’s demise, since Kerry was left for dead as recently as two weeks ago (even by people who supported him).
    Kerry ran a totally tone-deaf campaign for months, then finally got it together (apparently, the TV ads he’s been running the past week or so in Iowa have been very powerful). Dean can easily do the same and be the “comeback kid.”
    (For the record, I have no dog in the Democratic fight — anybody but Bush, as far as I’m concerned.)

  3. Jeremy Avatar

    I think you now need to close your bold tag. Unless you want to shout…
    Gephardt is getting clobbered. I feel sorry for him – he’s been a union guy for his entire life, and truly believes in them, and they basically stab him in the back with no support (not exactly a shock, but…)

  4. Swopa Avatar

    In partial response to Jeremy — what killed Gephardt was his slash-and-burn campaign against Dean. It damaged Dean, obviously, but it was a suicide attack. In a multi-candidate race, negative campaigns drive votes to one of the “other” candidates … and Gep drove both Dean’s voters and his own to Edwards and Kerry.
    Regarding the war, Jeff’s point is both true and false. Come November, IMO, the war will be a substantial issue in the Dems’ favor — but since the leading Demos are all close together on what needs to be done now, Dean has to (as Jeff implies) widen his point from “Nyahh, nyahh, I told you it was a bad idea” to it being an example of judgment (not being fooled by the bogus WMD arguments) and willingness to fight against Bush/conventional wisdom for what is right.

  5. EB Avatar

    I guess no one wanted to win one for the ole Gepper…

  6. HH Avatar

    Dean sent out fliers warning that if Kerry wins, Nader runs… So Dean’s flameout is not NECESSARILY bad for Bush.

  7. Warbonnet Avatar
    Warbonnet

    Hmmm…
    I remember the liberals bashing Bush and Cheney for their ties to Big Oil. The argument went that their presence in the White House would be a huge boom to the petroleum industry and that they should recuse themselves whenever possible when dealing with energy issues.
    I wonder if they will be fair and state that Kerry should recuse himself from participating in agricultural issues given the presence his wife has in the food industry.
    I won’t hold my breath.