WASHINGTON – Democrat John Kerry (search) holds a slight lead over rival Howard Dean in the latest poll of likely presidential primary voters in New Hampshire. A name from the past, however, could best them both.
Al Gore (search), who lost in 2000 and announced last December that he would not seek the Democratic nomination, garnered 25 percent to Kerry's 17 percent and Dean's 16 percent if there were a draft campaign for the former vice president.
The American Research Group (search) poll, released Friday, showed Kerry at 26 percent and Dean at 19 percent -- close to the 24-19 edge Kerry held in April. The two candidates were tied in a similar survey in March.
Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut both were at 12 percent and the remaining candidates were in single digits. Sens. John Edwards of North Carolina and Bob Graham of Florida were at 3 percent, and retired Gen. Wesley Clark, who is not a candidate, was at 2 percent. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton were at 1 percent. Twenty percent of those polled said they were undecided, about the same level as last month's poll.
The survey of 600 likely primary voters was conducted May 19-22 and had an error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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