So how do you think President Gephardt is doing?

[zulchzulu]

Having been the declared and nearly unbeatable frontrunner at this relative time in the election cycle in 2004, Dick Gephardt was the proven best candidate who was heavily favored in early primary and caucus polls. He was ahead of Howard Dean by nearly 6 points up to the summer of 2003.

So, since we're basing polls as something meaningful in the 2008 races, how is President Gephardt doing? The media thought he was going to be very hard to beat, especially in Iowa.

[JI7]

1. any chance he would consider running for Senate ?

[Hippo_Tron]

28. He's served in the House too long to be interested in the Senate

And I'm sure he's kicking himself for not staying in another term so that he could become Speaker.

I'd certainly like to see us take down Kit Bond in 2010, though.

[Ninja Jordan]

2. Gephardt was widely considered an "Iowa only" candidate.

Gephardt, however, would be very valuable as a potential running mate in '08. An Obama-Gephardt or Edwards-Gephardt ticket could be quite effective.

[laststeamtrain]

3. Gephardt/Dorgan '08

"for America"

"America. Working again."

The mention of Gephardt set me off.

[Cha]

9. Wonder how ol' Gephardt feels

about "The Rose Garden" now?

[melody]

4. lol - yeah, good point n/t

[depakid]

5. Gephardt wasn't going anywhere

I think most people damn well knew that, regardless of what the cheap media polls had to say.

[Sherman A1]

6. Agreed

[fishwax]

7. I don't remember Gephardt being considered anything near unbeatable

I never thought he had a shot, personally, and I thought the general consensus was that he might do well in Iowa but wouldn't last.

But that aside, I certainly agree with your point about polls at this point. There is a long and interesting race ahead of us. Should be fun. :)

[Comicstripper]

14. Bingo

Correct on both points! Gephardt was not considered an unbeatable frontrunnner. Or even a frontrunner. Lieberman and sometimes Kerry led early polls. Then Dean. Then Clark. Then Dean. (He and Gephardt leading Iowa ONLY). Then came Iowa, and it was Kerry and a little bit of Edwards. And yes, it's silly to get worked up over polls now. Although they do seem to be forcing strong contenders out of the race...

[BlueIris]

8. Sorry to kill the joke, but...I desperately wanted Gephardt as VP.

Since we're kinda on the subject...is there any chance he wants to go out for it this time? In any capacity?

[Ninja Jordan]

10. I think Gephardt would be a fabulous choice for VP.

He still has clout in the midwest, and is a political veteran. He looks great physically and wouldn't cost a seat in Congress.

[BlueIris]

13. Gephardt would have scored us OH, FL AND MO.

Or, at minimum, would have made it about 1,000% more un-fucking-believable that Bush "won" last time around, corrupt MSM or no. HE IS THE ONLY VP CHOICE THAT MADE SENSE, MATHWISE. Blech. I am still so bitter about that.

[zulchzulu]

26. That's true...but Gephardt basically resigned after Iowa

He should have not bowed out as completely as he did after his showing in Iowa. He would have at least gotten Missouri...Edwards couldn't even get his own home state for Kerry.

[Hippo_Tron]

29. Not sure Gephardt could've gotten Missouri for Kerry

Kerry lost there by a good 5 points as I recall. Gephardt wasn't a statewide official, thus I'm not sure it would've made a huge difference.

'04 was going to come down to Ohio no matter what. I think if there was a logical mathematical choice it would have been Ted Strickland. Edwards was more logical because Kerry wanted to appeal to young people and might have had trouble doing that with two old guys on the ticket.

[oasis]

11. Gephardt saw into the future:"President Bush is a miserable failure".

:think:

[Jack Rabbit]

12. I don't quite remember the 2004 race as you do

As I recall, the pundits were annointing President Lieberman. They just forgot to ask the rank and file Democrats, most of whom wanted nothing to do with him.

[zulchzulu]

16. Lieberman was pretty much annointed in 2002-early 2003...then Gephardt...

...became the guy that was on Meet The Press and other Royal Punditry Gameshows as someone more "likeable" than Lieberman...some guy named Howard Dean was getting small amounts of press from something called the internet and a funny word called blogs... There was something called MoveOn.org that was making the punditry show interns knocking on the news director doors and saying that they should check it out...

[politicasista]

15. Thanks for the perspective

:hi:

[AZBlue]

17. LMAO! Thank you for the much-needed comment!!!

Unfortunately it will fall on mostly deaf ears...

[talk hard]

18. true -- but some politicians shelf life has expired

I know this is meant to keep hope alive, but still ...

[PassingFair]

19. Gephardt's 2002 "Rose Garden" moment doomed him from

the start.

He NEVER stood a chance.

[zulchzulu]

24. Rose Garden moment was seen as playing a moderate to most

It may have doomed Gephardt with the Democratic base, but it was seen as him trying to be a "moderate" at the time.

[PassingFair]

27. You can't WIN

without your BASE.

[Hippo_Tron]

30. Moderate or not, it was the wrong thing to do

And Gephardt should have known better.

[grasswire]

20. Gephardt is a good man.

I hope he and his family prosper in private life. He devoted his career to defending the interests of working people and deserves some security and reward for being a good guy.

I used to see him with his family at the local supermarket in Virginia some years ago. His teenage daughter would drive the family car and he would sit in the back seat. He bought cheap beer.

[tritsofme]

21. Sorry, I don't think anyone declared Gephardt an unbeatable or undisputed frontruner

The media and anyone paying attention thought he would be the one to beat only in Iowa because of his supposed strong grassroots organization going back years.

His whole game plan hedged on doing well enough in Iowa to continue through the rest of the primaries.

[wisteria]

22. Excellent point.

Polls don't mean anything at this point. I really believe they measure the media's influence and hype about one candidate or another at this juncture.

[Freddie Stubbs]

23. Actually Kerry had a huge lead over Gephardt in NH in January 2003

John Kerry 27%

Dick Gephardt 5%

http://www.americanresearchgroup.com/nhpoll/dem/

[DrFunkenstein]

31. Edited upon scrolling down

[zulchzulu]

25. A couple articles showing Gephardt as a strong candidate in 2003

Here are some articles to prove my point to all the naysayers and revisionists...

Gephardt seen as front runner Jan.2003

"Mr. Gephardt now becomes a slight favorite for the Democratic presidential nomination--something he has coveted since he made an unsuccessful run in 1988."
http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110002873

Polls, October 2003 (actually would be 11 months from now) in relation to January 2007.

Clark had a slight edge over Gephardt 11 months later...

WHO DO YOU WANT TO WIN DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION?
(Democratic primary voters)
Clark 12%
Gephardt 10%
Lieberman 9%
Dean 9%
Kerry 8%
Moseley-Braun 4%
Sharpton 3%
Graham 3%
Edwards 2%
Kucinich 1%

When asked which member of the Democratic field has the best chance of beating George W. Bush, Wesley Clark, Richard Gephardt and Joe Lieberman cluster at the top of the list. Nearly as many see Dean and Kerry as the strongest candidate.

WHO HAS BEST CHANCE OF BEATING BUSH?
(Democratic primary voters)
Clark 15%
Gephardt 14%
Lieberman 11%
Dean 8%
Kerry 8%
Graham 4%
Edwards 3%
Sharpton 2%
Moseley-Braun 1%
Kucinich 0%

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/02/opinion/polls/main576342.shtml

So, as you can see, polls at this point are pretty pointless... if I have some time, I'll do a poll timeline that illustrates this even more graphically.