Dean leads in Iowa, N.H., polls show

by Todd Bennett

Jan 10, 2004 Howard Dean holds a slight lead in Iowa with just a week to go before the state's Democratic presidential caucuses and is maintaining his dominant position in New Hampshire, campaign polls out Saturday found.
In Iowa, the former Vermont governor was at 30 percent, with Dick Gephardt at 23 percent and John Kerry at 18 percent, according to the Los Angeles Times poll of likely Iowa caucus goers. John Edwards, a North Carolina senator, was the only other candidate in double digits, at 11 percent. http://dir.salon.com/story/news/wire/2004/01/10/dean_polls/index.html

No, I did not forget what year it was. I was just pointing out that John Edwards actually gained 21 points in the last week leading up to the caucus. 21 points! Actual results: 2004 Results

The results were very similar to that indicated by last minute polling, but were a surprise compared with weeks earlier. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Iowa_Democratic_caucuses
Candidate
No. State Delegates
Percentage
Potential National delegates
John Kerry
1,128
37.6
20
John Edwards
954
31.8
18
Howard Dean
540
18.0
7
Richard Gephardt
318
10.6
0
Dennis Kucinich
39
01.3
0
Wesley Clark
3
00.0
0
Uncommitted
15
00.5
-
Source: Des Moines Register

That is 50 plus percent of Iowans who decided in the final week! Hillary need not pop champagne just yet. And John might just have a surprise for those who would write him off.