Which candidate is best able to define him/herself rather than be defined

[AP]

Poll question: Which candidate is best able to define him/herself rather than be defined

by the media and the Republicans?

The punditocracy has told us what to think of Kerry, and many people have swallowed it. They're telling us what to think of Clark. Dean? I have my theories.

What do you all think?

Which candidate is master/mistress of his/her own domain? Which one is resisting the media's attempts to define him/her and doing the best job of defining his/herself?

[mndemocrat_29]

1. Did you leave Lieberman not in this poll for a reason?

[AP]

5. "'Joe' is a name so hard to remember, and so easy to forget."

To paraphrase Gilda.

[kodi]

2. clark, he showed as much last week when he chewed up a faux reporter

who tried to spin his words about how he considered the iraq war a side-show in the war on terror and the reporter said that he, clark called the troops and their sacrifices essentially inconsequental.

it was a joy to see.

i thought clark was going to come right out of the tv screen and beat the ever livin'shit out of the guy.

[AP]

3. The media line on Clark is that he's coldly ambitious and his troops...

...didn't like him. Sadly, I think this BS is getting traction, and Clark is having to use valuable time and money countering it.

[AP]

4. For those of you who think Dean is in control of his image,

http://discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=1188565

Listen to this story from last March 11. Listen to Dean ask whether anyone wants to talk about his health care plan, rather than about the war and get silence.

I think the media made him the anti-war candidate when he wanted to be the health care candidate. He wasn't able to assert the latter so he went with the former. That's not being in control in my book. That's more like being opportunistic. And it suggests he might not have the right skills once the media starts portraying him as something else that isn't helpful.

[Eloriel]

6. What a clever and creative set-up for your attack

I'm impressed.

I suppose the MOST cynical among us who also just happen, by coincidence of course, to be interested in finding something, anything to critize Dean about could, with abig stretch of the imagination, call that "opportunistic."

Those of us who can see more clearly call it responsiveness. WE are not over the war YET. I'm glad he keeps talking about it because people are still upset about it, glad he keeps reminding people of Bush's lies.

Eloriel

[AP]

7. We all have our biases and perspectives and opinions, and I don't try to

hide mine.

My poll quesitons are never scientific. I'm almost always trying to make a point. The polls are the socratic method. I'm not lecturing. I'm asking a question and seeing if I can get people to think what I'm thinking by working through their answers.

It amazes me that you still feel it's worth your time to respond to my poll quesitons with this same statement every time I do this.

Why don't we focus on something more productive. Did you listen to Mara Liasson's report on Dean?

What do you think about that part where Dean can get anyone to ask him any questions about things other than the war? Wasn't that interesting?

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[AP]

9. I guess I have to say thanks for that, well, defense.

Thanks.

It's what I was thinking but was too polite to say.

[kodi]

16. i'm a bare-knuckled liberal & am often deleted around here for the truth

go dean!

go clark!

go who ever the hell runs against bush!

i'm not so concerned about who i am facing these days, but am suspecious of who is shoulder to shoulder with me on some issues.

those are the ones who'll eventually get us killed.

[FDRrocks]

10. AP I love you...

but of course people are going to vote thier choice. It's been done a million times.

[AP]

12. Oops. Didn't realize with of my two threads I was in.

But I'll keep this anyway, without rewriting it to make sense here.

I'm trying to make the point that people's enthusiasm end up doing the opposite of what they intend.

They want their candidate to win every poll, so they don't answer honestly.

The result is obvious, and people start looking to third and fourth place for the honest answer.

I have that other poll up in which I want to get a sense of who is the best candidate at defending and asserting their own identities. I have my answer: Kucinich and Edwards. I totally agree with that. It's what I thought when I wrote the poll.

As far as I'm concerend, despite the fact that 60% of respondants answered Clark or Dean, I think I and most people read the poll as indicating something else.

[elperromagico]

11. Allow me to predict how this poll will go...

EXACTLY LIKE ALL THE OTHERS.

[dsc]

13. I voted Dean

but I think potentialy Dean and Kerry. This is why we need to opt out of federal funding. We used to be able to count on getting some decent free press. We can't now. Dean and Kerry will be able to buy favorable tv when the others won't. Of the two, Dean has shown a better ability to fight back fast.

[AP]

14. I mean, to date, who has defined him/herself, and who has been

defined by the media.

Forget about money and the future. Who do you think is perceived by the public (thanks or no thanks to the media) as the person he or she set out to be at the beginning of the campaign.

I think Kerry and Dean are definitely not perceived as the people they wanted to be perceived as orginally. Because Dean's persona is helping him, he's going with it (which is saving him a lot of money). Kerry's is negative, so he's having to fight back, which is costing time and money that could be better spent on other things.

[dsc]

15. By that standard I don't think any have

Sharpton might have to some extent in that the media would make him wear Tawana Brawley to a much greater extent than he has had to do. I also think Dean has managed to bring out his fiscal responsibiity message as well as civil unions. It is probably fair to say that he talks more about the war than he wanted to back then or maybe even than he wants to now (though the wisdom of his position is more apparent than anyone could think). I do stand behind the idea though that the future matters here. No candidate will survive three months of no ads. Hence I stand behind my answer.

[mot78]

17. Clark's beginning to say no to the whore media