NH voters praise forum, Edwards and Dean

[chimpymustgo]

AARP FORUM REACTION
http://www.politicsnh.com/archives/pindell/2003/November/11_18AARPreaction.shtml
By JOHN P. CURLEY
PoliticsNH.com

BEDFORD, Nov. 18 – Generally impressed with the AARP’s presidential forum, voters leaving the event had the nicest things to say about U.S. Sen. John Edwards and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

-snip-

Edwards’ name came up often as the audience filed out of the event.

Ginsberg said that he came to the forum completely undecided but after hearing the candidates’ positions he has pared the field down to three top contenders, calling Edwards “personally impressive.”

-snip-

Pat McGinnis of Hollis applauded Dean, Edwards and Gen. Wesley Clark for bring “fresh ideas” to the debate, saying that these men had a good chance to oust President Bush in November.

-snip-

Voters echoed the candidates’ disapproval of the prescription drug bill pending in Congress that the AARP endorsed yesterday.

Pat McGinnis strongly disagreed with the organization’s decision to support the bill because the legislation “does nothing to cap drug costs.”

Tilton’s mother, Anna, sad she was “shocked” the AARP made the endorsement, calling the pending legislation “a bad bill.”

-snip-
 
http://www.politicsnh.com/archives/pindell/2003/November/11_18AARPreaction.shtml

******
I watched the debate on C-SPAN early this morning. I was very impressed with Clark - and Edwards was just so down to earth and compelling. Those two are a helluva ticket, IMO.
 

[Duder]

1. Sounds like some did well...

...

Dean impressed Horace Patno of Londonderry as “an off-the-shoulder, honest guy” who “would be a good president.”

Patno’s wife Betty agreed, suggesting that the strongest Democratic ticket in 2004 would also include Edwards in the vice-president slot.

...

Sen. John Kerry, on the other hand, “fell to the bottom of the list.”

[myopinion]

2. Saw it and liked it

I live in NH and watched it also; I was impressed by 1 Dean, 2 Edwards and 3 Clark.
Just my opinion and that is all it is, Dean and Clark.
Dean to get the base of us Democrats alive again, Clark to pull the conservative/military votes that shrub has cast aside in the quest for corporate support at the cost of any one else.

I could easily vote for a round table of this ticket, though but you have to have balance, I like Clark too but Edwards/ Clark are both south and we need to get votes from border to boarder.

[AP]

3. Clinton-Gore: 2 southerners who got votes border to border.

I think the voters in the NE whom Democrats need vote on class before region. Edwards would do great in the NE.

I think a lot of southerners, consciously or unconsciously, vote on region before class (thus, they saw Bush as a southerner) and Edwards has that down too.

[AP]

4. In 96, Clinton-Gore got...

...every state bordering the Pacific, every state except MS bordering the Mississippi River, and, 10 of 14 states bordering the Atlantic (and two of the four they didn't get are Edwards's home state, and the state he was born in).

[Larkspur]

5. It's Southern bias like yours that gets this Northerner pissed off

I don't vote for a candidate because of their region, but if they, themselves, deserve it.

I liked and voted for Gore, even though he is a Southerner, because I felt like he, himself, was competent to be President. I voted for Clinton, but was not a fan of his. I feel that he, his pro-corporate bias, and his philandering are destroying the Dem Party.

If a pro-Dem Establishment candidate becomes the nominee, I'll vote for him, but won't donate $ or time to their campaign.

[AP]

6. You need to read books like "The End of the American Era"

If you don't take regional vote patterns seriously, and try to figure out what they represent, you're going to be in trouble.

I've never seen a Northeatern liberal ever pissed off over regionalism. Do you have any examples? AFAICT, NE liberals are put off by the religious right, but I've never seen a NE liberal reject a southern liberal just because of region, and I think it's becuase of the class angle which pulls the two regions together.

I know I'm just scratching the surface here, but I know there's somethign to this.

[9119495]

10. yes they did. And times have changed.

The south is much different today than it was in 92. I think the regional vote pattern shows that Republicans, through successful use of racial division and appeals to religious fundamentalists, have locked up the South.

Sectionalism has been with us since the Civil War, but a Southerner on the Dem ticket would be running against a regionally popular southerner (his name is Bush). Given a choice between two southerners, I think its clear they will choose the Southerner who most often appeals to God.

[blm]

7. Isn't Joe Curley a Bush supporting rightwinger?

.

[slinkerwink]

8. sounds like some didn't like Gephardt's or Kerry's attacks....

possibly why those two weren't mentioned.

[JaneQPublic]

9. Sen. John Kerry, on the other hand, “fell to the bottom of the list.”(n/t)