2008 Countdown By Wesley Little
By Jon Busdeker on May. 10, 2007
Dems’ standings become clear
Editor’s Note: Wesley Little, a student at Washington & Lee University in Lexington, is the political chairman of the university’s 100-year-old Mock Convention. He is writing this column, which will appear in The Burg and on http://www.the-burg.com every other week, about both the Democrat and the Republican parties leading up to the 2008 presidential election.
These past few weeks have been busy ones in the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. The diverse group of seven democratic contenders has been traveling across the nation to fundraise and build support for their candidacies. These efforts are being reflected by the many changes we have seen in each candidate’s standings in the polls and the amount of money they were able to raise in the first quarter of this year. These two pieces of information have given us new insight into the current status of the Democratic race. Using these statistics and gauging each candidate’s independent momentum in the important states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, the “standings” of the Democratic race become clearer.
1. Sen. Hillary Clinton
The former first lady and current senator from New York possesses several huge advantages in this race: an experienced team of loyal advisers, a huge and dedicated fundraising base, and the support of one of the most popular Democrats alive, her husband. Senator Clinton is currently leading most national polls with about 34 percent and led all Democratic candidates by raising $26 million in the first quarter of this year.
2. Sen. Barack Obama
What this young Illinois senator lacks in experience and campaign infrastructure is far exceeded by his phenomenal speaking gifts, personal dynamism and ability to connect with voters across the political and economic spectrum, as proven by his surprisingly large $25 million fundraising haul in the first quarter of this year from an incredible 83,000 contributors. Senator Obama is presently polling slightly behind Clinton nationally, with about a 28 percent share of the democratic electorate.
3. Sen. John Edwards
Rounding out the “big three” candidates, Edwards has succeeded in gaining the support of many Democrats through his populist message, which will likely play well in Iowa, a state where many polls find him ahead of the competition. Senator Edwards’ popularity is evidenced by his healthy poll numbers in the low teens and his successful efforts in raising $14 million this quarter.
4. Gov. Bill Richardson
The former ambassador to the U.N. and current governor of New Mexico has the best resume in the race and needs to perform well in the upcoming debates in order to move into the “first tier” and increase his chances of becoming the nation’s first Hispanic president. Despite Gov. Richardson’s struggles to find any traction in national polls (usually receiving only 2 percent to 4 percent), he led the “second tier” in fundraising with $6 million and is seen as the strongest challenger to Clinton, Obama and Edwards.
5. Sen. Joe Biden
If this veteran senator from Delaware can avoid his seemingly constant gaffes and political missteps, his extensive national security credentials might gain him attention in this race. However, Biden raised a rather unimpressive $3 million and usually manages only 1 percent in polls.
6. Sen. Chris Dodd
This Connecticut senator desperately needs a string of good press or strong fundraising to keep his campaign from becoming irrelevant.While Dodd raised a respectable $4 million, he is virtually unknown to the American people and will most likely stay that way.
7/8. Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Sen. Mike Gravel
Both this liberal Ohio representative and former Alaska senator have already become irrelevant and both failed to raise any significant amount of campaign cash.
I’ll be back in a couple of weeks with an update. In the meantime, I appreciate your questions and comments.
By Wesley Little. Little can be contacted at , or you can respond to his column on http://www.the-burg.com.
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