Mass, thanks for ruining my day, McCain article

[sandnsea]

Other point, Democrats, please, stop saying McCain is so great and stop co-sponsoring bills with him.

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/10856

(Angus Reid Global Scan) – Arizona senator John McCain could carry six states in the 2008 United States presidential election, according to a poll by American Research Group. 52 per cent of respondents in South Carolina would vote for the Republican in a head-to-head contest against Democratic New York senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

McCain is ahead in five states where Democratic nominee John Kerry won in the 2004 presidential election. The Republican holds a four-point edge in Maine, a 20-point lead in New Hampshire, a nine-point advantage in Vermont, a nine-point edge in Massachusetts, and a four-point lead in Rhode Island. Rodham-Clinton keeps a 10-point advantage over McCain in Connecticut.

In 2000, McCain won seven GOP presidential primaries in the U.S., but retired from the race after eventual nominee George W. Bush became the frontrunner. Rodham Clinton was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000, defeating Republican Rick Lazio by 12 per cent. She ruled out a presidential bid in 2004.

Bush is ineligible for a third term in office. The next presidential election is scheduled for November 2008.

...
Source: American Research Group
Methodology: Interviews with 1,200 American adults in each of the following states—South Carolina, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island—conducted from Feb. 2 to Feb. 9, 2006. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

[Mass]

1. Apologies - It just allowed me to make two points that have been driving

me crazy.

1/ The one you are making (and that has been driving me crazy).

2/ The fact that no states should be taken for granted.

This said, I dont think the poll has any meaning (I was even surprised that they came to these results with Hillary. I expected that with other Dems, but with her, it was quite a shock to me, even if it is clearly meaningless.

[sandnsea]

5. I should add

Mass posted this over in GD, it's a repost. I never dreamed we could actually lose solid blue states with a McCain run, *sigh*.

[jenndar]

2. Does this mean McCain is popular, or that Hillary is unpopular?

I don't like McCain, either, but these results don't surprise me, nor can they automatically be read as good news for him. Moderates who don't want to see dynastic politics take over our country would pick McCain, and I don't blame them.

[ProSense]

3. Exactly! n/t

[Mass]

4. The primary results say that she gets only 1/3 of the dems

with between 30 and 40 % undecided and the other votes spread between 10 candidates (including Gore who said he would not run, Kerry, Gore, and Edwards coming second depending of the states, but with small scores), so clearly a name recognition poll at this time, as proven by the fact that less nationally known Dems like Warner, Feingold, and Bayh are at less than 3 % in all of these states).

http://www.americanresearchgroup.com/

[sandnsea]

6. Probably both

I know alot of people still convinced of McCain's moderateness and coalition builder image. Hillary has neither and I don't see how she could reposition herself that way either. We have really got to start taking down the illusion of Republicanism as a viable governing philosophy, and knock down that damned liberal label.

[TayTay]

7. All polls are snapshots of a moment

Don't forget that either. This is McCain running before he actually runs, when he looks like the pure saviour. This is before he actually has to engage in 'politics' and the mudslinging that goes with it. And this is before he has to undergo the grueling campaign season that is guaranteed to bring out and magnify any personality faults that he has. (Anger. Lack of diplomacy. Inability to bring in people from 'the other side.' His extreme views on defense and his extreme support for the actions in Iraq. His vindictiveness when it comes to things like his letter to Sen. Obama. This man is, like all candidates, flawed.)

This is a fantasy race. It is not real. Like all polls taken this far out, take it with a huge grain of salt. The John McCain of today will not be the John McCain of any race after May of 2008. He will be a different looking and sounding guy. That's what the long process does to a person.

[wisteria]

8. I agree with you. McCain's true record and personality will all

be exposed during the election process. His age also will be a factor in more ways than one.

[karynnj]

9. Sadly age in his case may be a factor - he looks completely

awful lately. Compare my Senator (Lautenberg, who is 10 or so years older) - he still seems energetic, witty and having the time of his life. I think he appreciated being ask to run and likely has no plans to run again.

I hope that with McCain, he is simply coming back from some treatment that accounts for how bad he looked. (Like the Kerry 2003 pictures when he was under going cancer treatment - that the slime used as "before" pictures to imply he used botox.)

[Island Blue]

10. John McCain turn 72 years old in August of 2008.

I think that will be a big factor if he should decide to run. (How that fact could be handled delicately by his opponents, I have no idear.) I wish I could understand what the big attraction to McCain is. If I hear the phrase "Maverick Senator John McCain" one more time, I think I'm going to hurl.

As for Hillary, I think if she does decide to run, she will loose much of her luster once she hits the campaign trail and actually has to speak. Big Dawg she ain't in the oration department.

[JI7]

11. McCain's mother is still alive

if he has those genes he will be around for a while. i think his sister is still alive also and she is a cancer survivor like he is also.

i use to think he was too old and wouldn't run. i thought Hillary wouldn't either. but i think as we get closer and especially with the media helping them out it's too good a thing for them to pass up. those who are unknowns and hated by the media would probably not run with their backgrounds.

[ProSense]

12. More McCain

Arizona was one of the epicenters of the savings and loan crash, and its archetypal villain, Charles Keating, called Arizona home. McCain himself was one of the Keating Five; senators whose campaign coffers were padded by Keating -- McCain got over $100,000 -- allegedly in exchange for help in beating back government regulators.

When asked if the Keating Five scandal helped spurn his obsession with campaign finance reform, McCain said, "Sure, experiences things, but I worked on campaign finance reform in 1987, when I first came to the Senate. I was always involved in the issue. But my interest has steadily increased as the pernicious effects of have increased and the Congress has become more gridlocked by it."

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/12/02/arizona/index.html

April, 1987--Edwin Gray ends his term as chairman of Federal Home Loan Bank Board in June. Before his departure, he is summoned to the office of Sen. Dennis DeConcini. DeConcini, with four other Senators (John McCain, Alan Cranston, John Glenn, and Donald Riegle) question Gray about the appropriateness of Bank Board investigations into Charles Keating's Lincoln Savings and Loan. All five senators, who have received campaign contributions from Keating, would become known as the "Keating Five". The subsequent Lincoln failure is estimated to have cost the taxpayers over $2 billion.

http://www.fdic.gov/bank/historical/s&l/

Straight Talk :puke:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2456018&mesg_id=2456018