Dean soars in California

The power of an Internet-based campaign: Despite trailing in name recognition, and without spending a dime in the state, Dean now leads all his rivals in the critical state of California (though locked in a statistical dead heat with Kerry and Lieberman).

The latest results of the California Field Research Institute poll (April results in parenthesis):

Dean: 16 (7)
Kerry: 15 (16)
Lieberman: 14 (22)
Gephardt: 7 (14)
Edwards: 4
Graham: 3
Kucinich: 3
Sharpton: 3
Moseley-Braun: 2

The trend has been clear nationwide -- people were likely to support Lieberman early on in the contest, a function of his high name ID. But as the contest wears on, it's clear Lieberman cannot retain any of that initial (and residual to 2000) support.

The biggest beneficiary is obviously Dean, who has enjoyed solid gains nationwide as his name ID rises.

As for that other candidate in the race, many Republicans were heartened by Bush's high standing in the April edition of the poll. Well, those numbers are predictably falling back to eart, with his California approval rating falling to 49 percent.

Posted July 22, 2003 06:57 AM