Princeton's Democrats Are Divided In Presidential Primary Straw Poll

Stuart Mitchner

A standing-room-only gathering of Borough and Township Democrats at the Suzanne Patterson Senior Center Sunday night conducted a straw poll to determine their choice for president. The result was a tie between retired Gen. Wesley Clark and Gov. Howard Dean. Each received 26 votes. Sen. John Kerry was the runner-up with 12 votes.

Although the tie would seem to leave the issue unresolved, supporters of Gen. Clark saw it as a victory, given Gov. Dean's front-runner status in New Hampshire.

Sen. John Edwards received four votes while both Representatives Richard Gephardt and Dennis Kucinich had three. Sen. Joe Lieberman and Amb. Carol Mosley Braun received two votes each. Single votes went to the Rev. Al Sharpton and ‹ the only write-in ‹ Al Gore.

The same night Princeton Democrats were voting, Democrats in Florida rejected a plan to conduct a straw poll at a party convention early next month.

In both states, the motive was to give Democrats a chance to make their preferences known ahead of numerous primaries in other states. While Florida's primary comes in March after 28 states will have voted, New Jersey's is not until June, when it will almost undoubtedly be too late for the vote to have any impact on the eventual nomination.

Sunday night's preview of a primary was arranged by the Princeton Community Democratic Organization.

Five-minute speeches for each candidate were followed by a question-and-answer period and a paper ballot vote. Only registered Democrats were given ballots, after registration lists had been checked at the entrance.

The event was emceed by PDCO's Andrew Koontz, who introduced the speakers for each candidate. Koontz was impressed by the turn-out and the enthusiasm of the participants. The size of the crowd is not reflected in the vote count since a number of people had to leave before the ballot was taken.

Bill Dunn, chairman of the Clark campaign in New Jersey, stressed his candidate's "electability." When questioned about the extent of the general's political experience, he pointed to the complex politics involved in his duties as Supreme Commander of NATO during the war in Kosovo. Clark's commitment to health care and affirmative action were cited in the context of his responsibilities as a commanding officer in the army.

Predictably, the crowd was most vocal whenever the Bush administration came under attack. The response was particularly strong when state senator John Adler, speaking for the candidacy of Sen. John Kerry, declared that four more years of Republican leadership would be "catastrophic" for America.

As has been true in the debates and on the campaign trail, Gov. Dean received more than his share of negative attention. The first question from the audience was at his expense; "How many states will he lose by, 45 or 49?".

Princeton Borough assemblyman Reid Gusciora spoke effectively on the governor's behalf. To the charge that Dean's anger is a liability, Gusciora defended it as justifiable anger given the flawed 2000 election, the Bush tax cut, the invasion of Iraq, and the administration's environmental policies.

The strongest criticism of Dean came from Anne Waldren Neumann, speaking for Dennis Kuchinich. She contrasted Kucinich's opposition to the NRA and stand on homosexual marriage with Dean's positions on both issues. When she was asked what her candidate's chances really were, Ms. Neumann offered a snappy one-liner in reply. "Kucinich," she said, "was the only candidate that Ralph Nader had promised not to challenge in the next election."

West Windsor lawyer Glenn Bergenfield spoke of Sen. John Edwards from personal experience. The two were in law school together at the University of North Carolina where Mr. Bergenfield came to know first-hand the qualities he cited in speaking for the senator's strengths.

Mr. Bergenfield cited watching Mr. Edwards, a former trial lawyer, cross-examine a judge during the hearings that eventually blocked Judge Charles Pickering's nomination to the appeals court based in New Orleans.

Although all nine candidates had been contacted for speakers and campaign materials, candidates Gephardt, Mosley-Braun, Sharpton and Lieberman had to be spoken for by surrogates, among them Mildred Trotman who provided a presentation on behalf of Amb. Mosley-Braun.

The Princeton Community Democratic Organization was founded in 1965 and is open to all registered Democrats. It will be interesting to see how closely Princeton's views match those of Democrats nationwide.