Sunday, June 03, 2007

Clinton Maintains Lead Over Obama & Edwards

The Washington Post has an article in the Sunday, June 3, 2007 edition, about Clinton maintaining her lead over Obama and Edwards. Edwards has lost ground since the last Washington Post poll. What this poll shows is that Clinton has a sizable advantage because of her name recognition.

In the past, Democrats have been reluctant to nominate people who ran and lost presidential elections. Not so the Republicans. Nixon was on three national tickets before he won in 1968. Reagan ran in 1976 in the primary against Gerald Ford and then came back to win in 1980. George H.W. Bush ran for President in 1980 in the primary, and served as Vice-President before running for President in 1988. Dole was Ford's VP in 1976 before running for President in 1996. Finally, George W. Bush had the advantage of the Bush name when he ran in 2000. This means that Nixon was on five Republican tickets; Dole was on two; George H.W. Bush was on four; and Reagan had run before running again in 1980.

Contrast this with the Democrats. Johnson was on two tickets, 1960 and 1964. Humphrey was on two tickets, 1964 and 1968. Carter was on two and Mondale on two before he ran and lost in 1984. Clinton was on two and Gore was on three before he lost in 2000.

This advantage in name identification has been a big plus for Republicans, one that most Democrats who read political blogs like this one don't appreciate. A ticket with Clinton on it, though, would probably be a ticket which would be up against a relatively new Republican ticket. In that case, the Dems should have the name identification advantage.

Click on this entry's title to read the Post article about the poll results.

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