Polls suggest Gore has edge among Democrats, overall sentiment

WASHINGTON -- Al Gore has an advantage among Democratic presidential hopefuls should he decide to run for president in 2004, polls suggest, but public sentiment about the former vice president is mixed.

When Democrats are given a list of possible candidates for the party's nomination, Gore routinely comes out well ahead of the others. A CNN-Time poll released in mid-November that asked Democrats' preference for the party's nomination in 2004 put the party's 2000 nominee at 36 percent, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton at 20 percent and all others in single digits.

Clinton has said she is not running, and when the question is asked with her name removed from the list, Gore's support swells to 53 percent, with Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle at 10 percent each and others in single digits.

Lieberman has said he won't run if Gore does. Those close to Daschle say he hasn't ruled out a run.

In a CNN-Time poll rematch of the 2000 election, President Bush won with 57 percent, while Gore garnered 40 percent.

The public overall was about evenly split on whether they would like to Gore run again, with 45 percent saying yes. Six in 10 Democrats said yes, and 35 percent said no. The CNN-Time poll of 1,006 adults was taken Nov. 13-14 and has an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

A CBS-New York Times poll out recently found that when people are asked whether Democrats should nominate Gore again or nominate someone else, two-thirds said nominate someone else, including 55 percent of Democrats.

The Democratic field for president will begin taking shape in the coming days and weeks, with Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts expected to form an exploratory committee and former House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri expected to begin telling colleagues whether he plans to run.

Vermont Gov. Howard Dean is already running for president, while Gore and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards expect to disclose their plans after the Christmas holidays.