Seattle Town Hall presidential candidate discussion

[eridani]

http://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2007/07/live-from-town-hall-perfect-presidents.html

The discussion then turned to impeachment, with Ben Mankiewicz and Ed Schultz bantering about the difficulty of getting Congress to move forward.

Schultz was adamant about the need for immediate action. "Take him to the woodshed, impeach him, and watch a groundswell come to the Democratic Party in 2008," he thundered. He was nearly drowned out as the audience roared its approval, many jumping to their feet and shouting as they clapped.

Cenk chimed in, pointing out that Gore had already won an election (having been at least the undisputed victor of the popular vote in 2000). "Who voted for Gore last time who thinks, I should have voted for Bush?" he concluded.

Miller then revealed that she liked Obama. "Between him and Rudy, it's fear versus hope," she said. Schultz noted that all the Democrats were focused on the issues that mattered, in contrast to the Republicans.

Thom Hartmann interrupted to conduct a brief, unscientific straw poll to discern the audience preferences of the Democratic field. He asked attendees to applaud for their favorite candidates. Here is a tabulation of the responses in the order that Hartmann polled:

Barack Obama: Significant enthusiasm (loud)
John Edwards: Strong enthusiasm (LOUD)
Al Gore: Extremely strong enthusiasm (VERY LOUD)
Bill Richardson: Significant enthusiasm (loud)
Dennis Kucinich: Strong enthusiasm (LOUD)
Joe Biden: Very little enthusiasm (scattered applause)
Hillary Clinton: Little enthusiasm (scattered applause)
Mike Gravel: Very little enthusiasm (scattered applause)

Gore, Kucinich, and Edwards were the standouts in the poll, trailed by Obama and Richardson. The other candidates did not elicit a comparable response. Gore, of course, is not a declared candidate, so of the declared candidates, Edwards was the apparent winner. It is worth noting that Hartmann told attendees they could "vote" more than once - so most people applauded for more than one candidate.

[eridani]

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