Gore top Dem
in race for president?

Who's the No. 1 Democratic contender for the presidency in 2004? Surprise, it's not Kerry, Lieberman, Gephardt, Edwards, Hillary or any other of the current hopefuls positioning themselves for the big race next year.

Will Al Gore re-invent self for 2004?

A recent national poll by Zogby International finds that Al Gore is the Democrats' best hope to unseat George W. Bush.

Commissioned by the Draft Gore 2004 Committee, the national polling organization added Gore to its regular lineup of potential Democratic challengers to Bush for the presidency. And despite the former vice president's three-month absence from national politics, Gore polled only 9 points behind Bush – 42 percent to 51 percent, handily beating out all other Democrats.

Concluded pollster John Zogby: "Gore surfaces as the leading contender."

The poll of 1,129 likely voters was conducted March 14-16.

Ironically, the committee to draft Gore was formed in December, immediately after Gore announced he wouldn't seek the 2004 nomination. But delivering an inescapable double message, Gore also mentioned that he still has "the energy and the drive and the ambition to make another campaign."

"We are living extraordinary times, when extraordinary action is needed," says Draft Gore chair Monica Friedlander of Oakland, Calif. "People are calling Gore to duty at a critical juncture in history."

In one of the most controversial and contested presidential elections in American history, Gore won the popular vote in 2000 by 548,000 votes. More than 51 million Americans cast their vote for him, giving him the second largest vote total in U.S. history, notes the PR Newswire release reporting Zogby's poll results.

Specifically, the poll found that Gore was the choice of 42 percent of respondents in the match-up against Bush, followed by Clinton (39 percent), Gephardt (38 percent), Lieberman (38 percent), Kerry (36 percent), and Edwards (32 percent). Gore also received the greatest support from Democratic voters (74 percent), followed by Clinton (70 percent), Gephardt (70 percent), and Kerry (65 percent).

Bush also has at least a 20-point lead over the second string of Democratic presidential hopefuls: former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart (54-31 percent), North Carolina Sen. John Edwards (51-32 percent), former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (52-31 percent), former Illinois Sen. and Ambassador Carol Mosley-Braun (54-30 percent), civil-rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton (58-25 percent), former NATO commander Gen. Wesley Clark (52-28 percent), and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich (52-26 percent).

In another polling surprise, Sharpton is now favored over all other 2004 presidential hopefuls among New York City Democrats, according to another recent Zogby poll. "In New York City, Sharpton was the strongest [Democrat] with 13 percent of the vote, followed closely by Lieberman (12 percent) and Gephardt (11 percent)," said the pollster.

Clark, like Gore, has not yet thrown his hat into the ring, but he is touted in some circles as a potential candidate.

But the big "winner" in last week's poll is Gore. "It's remarkable," said Zogby, "that with other Democrats actively campaigning and President Bush constantly in the limelight during wartime, Gore remains within easy striking distance – and has in fact greatly improved his standing in the polls. This indicates the great depth of grass-roots support he enjoys."

"With our nation at war and Americans under increasing repression," says DraftGore.com, "who will stand up for us? Not the major Democratic candidates for president, all of whom have backed George Bush again and again. Not even our own party, which right now represents no one and has betrayed us all.

"By forcefully speaking out against the policies of this administration, Al Gore has become the voice of patriotic dissent in America – a voice for the people, not the powerful; a voice against a senseless war (see Gore's Iraq speech); and a voice in defense of our Constitution!"