Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

May 05, 2004

Bush Leads Kerry Despite Direction of Country

"Only a third of American voters believe the nation is in sound shape, but they are largely not blaming President Bush, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Wednesday, which showed Bush running slightly ahead of his Democratic opponent for president, Sen. John Kerry."

If the election were today, Bush would edge Kerry 46% to 42%. "Ralph Nader could play a major role in deciding the election... Nader polled 5 percent in the new survey, more than the margin between the two major candidates." The poll had a 3 percentage-point margin of sampling error.

The key finding: "Kerry appears to have been significantly damaged by a series of television advertisements in which the Bush campaign paints him as indecisive and pandering to special interests."

Dick Morris advocated this strategy several month ago and it seems to have worked.

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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