Salon.com: Which Democrat is a winner?

[DeeDeeNY]

With the Iowa caucuses looming, victory-hungry Democrats want to know -- who is the most "electable"? Here's our best (totally wild) guess as to how each candidate might fare in November.

Which Democrat is a winner?
By Walter Shapiro
Salon.com

Dec. 29, 2007 | DES MOINES, Iowa -- Teesha and Karl Kirschbaum are camping out in their empty house in Clear Lake (110 miles north of here) just so they can caucus on Jan. 3. The young couple are moving to Seattle -- and their furniture and clothes were packed up and shipped west the day after Christmas. But the Kirschbaums, who were both avid supporters of Howard Dean in 2004, have stayed behind with a few possessions and their dueling Hillary (Teesha's) and Obama (Karl's) signs on the front lawn.

Karl, who builds racing cars, is firm in his preference for Obama. "It's going to take a lot to swing my vote -- and it won't be my wife," he said defiantly in mid-December when I met him at a going-away party for the couple at the Coffee Cat cafe in Mason City. But Teesha was shaky in her allegiance in a way that would be familiar to many caucus-goers. "I'm leaning Hillary," she said at the party. "But I'll probably decide for sure when I'm in the room on caucus night. This year I like them all."

. . . . .

Electability may be the most important factor churning in the minds of the undecided and loosely aligned voters whose last-minute decisions will tilt the caucuses. "The undecideds are just sitting there," said Julie Jensen, the Iowa coordinator for Chris Dodd. "We had an event in Des Moines last night for 100 people -- and half of them were undecided."

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/12/29/electability_democrats/

. . . . . . . .

This is really what it comes down to – electability. Even though some of the Democratic candidates are definitely better than others IMHO, I do think that just about any of the Democratic candidates is still worlds better than any of the Republican ones. So it comes down to who can best win against any of the Republican candidates. (Plus of course that the general election is fairly
counted.)

[Perry Logan]

1. I think you worry too much. There's not enough Kool-Aid to make voters forget the Neocon Nightmare.

[DeeDeeNY]

2. I hope you're right, but voters can get distracted from the real issues

Many voters don't keep very well informed. I still remember how in 2004, many people I spoke to were absolutely smug that there was no way that Bush could win.

[PATRICK]

3. self-unfulfilling prophecies

because it is not clear to the people, electability itself is not clear. On what dulled swords the fate of humanity rests. I guess this a time for even atheists to pray.