Democrats Fight to Be Alternative to Kerry

[Feanorcurufinwe]

Edwards, a senator from North Carolina, scored a win on Tuesday in neighboring South Carolina, and Clark, a native of Arkansas, squeezed out a narrow victory in neighboring Oklahoma, keeping the door open for one of the Southerners to make a real race of the Democratic nomination fight.

But the longer both stay in the race, slicing up the anti-Kerry vote, the easier it will be for the front-running Kerry to continue to roll up key wins and huge delegate counts. "They each have a victory now, and the question is who is the alternative to John Kerry," said Doug Schoen, a Democratic consultant and former pollster to President Bill Clinton. "The longer that question isn't answered, the better it is for Kerry."

Former front-runner Howard Dean also remains in the picture, with his fading hopes pinned on a possible win in Washington on Saturday or even in Wisconsin on Feb. 17, although many Democratic operatives already have written him off.

<snip>

In the end, the Kerry tidal wave might be too strong for any of his rivals to halt, particularly in a few short weeks. "It's hard to see how John Kerry can be stopped unless John Kerry stops himself," pollster John Zogby said, who said a drawn out race with an opponent like Edwards might actually help Kerry. "Edwards is not going to go negative on Kerry, he's not going to slash and burn," he said. "In the meantime, Kerry gets the chance to visit more states, get out the vote and build an organization for the fall."

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=4284676