Did any of us here in 2004 even consider defeat in Nov? The fact that so many are now

[merbex]

is cause for major concern and I think it goes beyond the fact that the primary season has not ended.

Does it not strike anyone as odd that each state "up in the batter's box" so to speak( this 'inning' seeing IND and NC 'taking swings'), since the beginning of March has had an extremely high level of undecideds?

Does this auger well for November?

The longer this has played out the more we as activists have learned where the flaws in each candidate remaining is..... and how we will be asked to defend them ...., I'm with Elizabeth Edwards: the MSM did an awful job tracking, checking and vetting the candidates( all 8) who vied for this nomination.

Let me tell you a story of how I and others( as a group of bloggers in MA) were notified about an appearance by Gov. Bill Richardson in Nashua NH on a Friday in July in 2007 at the Nashua Public Library. We got the information around 12:30 pm for his 5:00pm appearance. Considering what traffic is like in the Boston area on Friday afternoons in the summer we had about an hour and a half to decide whether to drive up to see Richardson.

We did. Traffic was awful, as expected, and we arrived a little after 5 pm to find about 300 -400 people waiting to see Bill Richardson.

300-400 people

Know what else we found?

We found out that we were the only people in the room who could be classified as any form of "media" until the AP photographer showed up just as the event was ending.

2 bloggers

Our readership is small and local, but doesn't anyone else find it noteworthy that Bill Richardson pulled in 300-400 people at 5pm on a Friday faternoon in July 2007 in Nashua NH???

To let the MSM tell it you'd think it was only 4 people showed up to see anyone other than Clinton or Obama since they announced they were running.

We had good candidates running and I was fortunate enough to see them all in NH in person and some I actually got to ask questions.

I just wanted to write and say that we have our work cut out for us in November and while I can appreciate that many things are finally "coming to light" NOW rather than the final 2 weeks of October, I am nervous and if I could wish for one thing it would be that each and every one of us take the time to see every announced Democratic candidate because we did have some hidden jewels that did not get a fair shake from the MSM who turned it into a money race from the very beginning in my estimation.

There's my rant for the day

[Eurobabe]

1. Biden

Sorely missed. :cry:

[Blue_In_AK]

3. We are in 100 percent agreement there, 48...

Since Biden and Edwards dropped out, I've really not had much heart for this whole primary season. I'm just standing on the sidelines waiting to see how it all shakes out.

[last1standing]

2. Yes. We were told the only Kerry could win in November so we needed to support him.

That's what us Dean supporters were told time and again. If we didn't jump on the Kerry bandwagon we'd definitely lose in November as he was our only chance. He had the experience, the war record, the connections....

I'm not saying that Kerry was a bad choice - or a good one - but people need to support who they feel will make the best president and stop trying to pull these bullshit arguments out of thin air to tell us that we need to vote for the "electable" one.

[merbex]

7. I was Deaniac in 2004 and later I canvassed in Oct of 04 for Kerry

I honestly thought, that with us essentially united as a Party we'd win.

We didn't even though I think we were united and there are lessons to be drawn from that:purely anecdotal but I think a lot of Independents and Republicans were looking for a reason not to vote for Kerry.

The Swift Boaters gave them that reason and when it when unanswered for weeks the election was lost.

My fear is that this time the Republicans don't really have to manufacture anything - Obama and Clinton have given themselves self-inflicted wounds AND we are certainly not as united as we were in 2004

It worries me.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. 2004 made everyone sit up and realize

that there is no "given" in politics. Now that we KNOW the GOP will try and steal elections, it is paramount that we work to make sure that doesn't happen and that we make sure an overwhelming number of people come out to vote Democratic.

[napi21]

8. What a DAMN SAD thing we have to say about our elections!

For EIGHT YEARS we've been watching the GOP steal elections, we have PROOF that the dre machines are easily compromised, many states have mandatory recounts if the final diff is less than 2% but you can't DO a recount, we have an administration that ignores our laws and then tells us to get lost if we want to question them, BUT NOTHING'S BEEN DONE TO FIX ANY OF IT!

And some DUers have the nerve to tell me I'm too pessimistic! HA!!!!

I know you're right about having a super record turnout of Dems this fall to combat any attempts to STEAL another election, but I'm sooo disgusted that it has to be that way! And WE have the balls to send election monitors to other countries to insure that THEIR elections are honest???????

[DrDan]

5. I think you are right to be concerned.

Add to your concerns the fact that Dean and the DNC decided to put Florida and Michigan at risk. That could prove to be fatal to the Dems in Nov.

[rockymountaindem]

6. Of course we did

I never thought we had a chance until a few days before the election when I guess I let hope get the better of me. Otherwise I thought it was pretty clear that we were going to lose no matter who we nominated.

[mrcheerful]

9. I knew as I was standing in a line for 3 hours waiting for my turn to vote

that Kerry was going to lose, when your in a primary black district and all everyone around you is talking about was how gays were going to ruin hetro marriages. Seems the queer smear went over big with blacks, it was clear Kerry was going to lose. In that 3 hours I only saw 3 other whites and 2 of those 3 were republican supporters proudly displaying their GW 04 buttons along side their gay bashing buttons. You wonder how republicons get people to vote against their own best interests, thats how, you bring in something that scares the crap out of the voter and instead of talking about issues you talk about how gays or terrorists or brown people will bring down the country, works every time.