Crossfire (2/6/04) Can anyone derail Kerry?

[Wonk]

(on edit: this is a snip, in case that wasn't glaringly obvious)

John Kerry gets a big endorsement from one of his former rivals and Howard Dean is resting all of his hopes in the cheese state. Will Dick Gephardt's endorsement of Kerry give the front-runner's campaign even more momentum? Does Howard Dean have a chance of stopping Kerry in Wisconsin? Top advisers to the Kerry and Dean campaigns weigh in on their candidate's chances of getting the Democratic top slot. Tune in for all that and more starting at 4:30 p.m. ET.

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/crossfire/

[janx]

1. Who writes this crap? Do they have absolutely NO imagination?

It's the same stuff over and over again--same stuff, different candidate.

[LuminousX]

7. They have a MS Word template

They just swap out names for whichever candidate they want to tear down. Why does Kerry have to be derailed? Why not ask if another candidate might overtake Kerry?

[ewagner]

2. GGGrrrrr...

so what do ya think "Bowtie-boy" will do when Clark wins in Wisconsin?

[delhurgo]

3. If you're gonna cut and paste, put the excerpt in quotes or italicise,...

...otherwise people will think you're plagiarizing/stealing other people's work - and we all know you would never do that, would you?

[Wonk]

6. The link is an itty bitty clue. nt

[delhurgo]

8. Not enough of one, imo. Apparently you don't take the issue seriously...

...can't say that surprises me though.

[Wonk]

10. http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules.html

(snip, in case it isn't obvious enough for you)

If you wish to reference an article, provide a brief excerpt and include a link to the original source.

[delhurgo]

12. Yes, that would work for most people. I'm just lookin out for your own ...

... reputation. Suit yourself though. It's certainly isn't something I would want to be thought of me.

[blm]

13. Most folks here think Wonk's rep is just about perfect.

.

[onebigbadwulf]

4. Endorsements are meaningless as we now see.

God could endorse Kucinich and the fundies would still vote for Bush.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

5. I actually think Gephardt's counts for a lot

He had a lot of unions and organization behind him. He is a powerful speaker and his statement today was "charged". It was a real old fashioned political rally.

[returnable]

9. Eh, I'd disagree...

If Michigan was a close race, having Gephardt's union support would've been a coup.

But Kerry already has Michigan in the bag, so Gephardt's endorsement doesn't add much at all, IMHO.

As we saw in Iowa, Gephardt doesn't exactly fire up the base any more. Or the middle, for that matter.

The fact that he waited until AFTER Kerry had cemented his front-runner status to endorse him also speaks volumes.

If Gep really wanted to show some stones, he should've made his voice heard before the Missouri primary.

[Nashyra]

11. I belong to a union

and rarely does it affect the rank and file vote individually. Actually when one of the unions on our property backed Clinton it looked like there was going to be a revolt.

[blm]

14. I think he did the right thing for a fair shot at Missouri.

.

[genius]

15. Edwards has the best shot.

If Edwards wins big on Tuesday, we may get a brokered convention.

[krkaufman]

16. Ditto -- except replace Edwards with Clark

The better finisher in VA & TN will be Kerry's main rival.

If Edwards finishes ahead of Clark in both states, Clark will likely drop out soon after and we'll end up with a Kerry/Edwards ticket.

If Clark wins either state or Edwards drops out due to 3rd place finishes, Clark will gain serious momentum and *will* stand a chance to challenge Kerry. Kerry will begin looking less inevitable when compared directly with Clark.

However, even if Edwards finishes 3rd in both states on Tuesday, he may stick in the race in order to stop Clark from stopping Kerry; and, without Dean similarly assisting Clark, Kerry & the establishment win control.