KUCINICH WINS DFA ONLINE POLL
John Nichols, The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters?bid=45&pid=249126

Now that Dennis Kucinich has finished first in a major survey of Democratic activists, perhaps Democratic party bosses and their media acolytes will have to back off their efforts to marginalize him. No, Kucinich's top-place finish in the Democracy for America online survey that attracted serious attention from major campaigns and drew more than 150,000 voters does not mean the anti-war congressman from Ohio is on a fast track to the nomination. But it does mean that Kucinich is displayed an ability to attract meaningful support from the party's activist base and that his "Democratic-wing-of-the-Democratic-Party" message has appeal.

Kucinich did not secure the 66-percent of the vote required to gain an official endorsement from DFA, the group founded by supporters of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean's 2004 presidential bid and their allies on the party's left flank. But he easily bested the other candidates and the unannounced "contender" who led in the early voting, former Vice President Al Gore. The final totals were:

Kucinich 31.97% 49364
Al Gore 24.77% 38242
Former Senator John Edwards 15.6% 24078
Senator Barack Obama 13.86% 21403
Senator Hillary Clinton 4.21% 6504
Governor Bill Richardson 4.09% 6309
Other 2.05% 3171
Senator Christopher Dodd 1.56% 2415
Senator Joe Biden 1.12% 1723
Former Senator Mike Gravel 0.77% 1182

Kucinich beat the other candidates among voters from the first caucus state of Iowa and the first primary state of New Hampshire. He also won the early caucus state of Nevada, while Obama won the early primary state of South Carolina. Notably, Gore won New York state.

And what of the "front-runner" for the nomination? Hillary Clinton lost every state in the DFA survey, which saw 95 percent of voters back someone other than the New York senator. It is no secret that the powers that be in the party leadership and the boardrooms of the major networks have fixated on Clinton as the likely nominee. Nor is it any secret that the party and media bosses would prefer to drop Kucinich from the roster of Democratic contenders who must be invited to join debates and participate in major events such as the Iowa Democratic Party's Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner.

Gravel was excluded from the most recent Democratic debate at Drexel University and moderator Tim Russert did everything he could during the course of that debate to read Kucinich out of the running. But Kucinich's poll numbers in formal national and state surveys actually went up after the Drexel debate. The congressman is polling ahead of Dodd and Biden -- as well as Gravel --in most national surveys of likely Democratic voters. The same is true of many surveys from early caucus and primary states. And, with the DFA result, he can now point to an impressive finish in a test most of the major contenders took seriously. While Kucinich certainly campaigned hard to get votes in the DFA poll, Obama, Edwards, Richardson and Dodd made significant efforts -- by sending emails and cutting videos -- to encourage their backers to participate in the survey. As such, Kucinich's win is meaningful -- and it should become at least a bit more difficult to dismiss the congressman's win, and his candidacy.

Suddenly, Impeachment Hearings Are Looking Like a Strong Possibility
Dave Lindorff, OpEdNews
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_dave_lin_071108_suddenly_2c_impeachmen.htm

[Duchess Note: Many thanks to Linda in TX for sharing these articles.]