2004 Dem. primaries if Biden runs and Kerry doesn't

[Mr. Morden]

If Biden had run for president in 2004 while Kerry hadn't, how would the Dem. primary contest have turned out?

[brucejoel99]

Biden wouldn't even come close to winning.

It also wouldn't be Edwards. Edwards was despised even among fellow Senators, who regarded him as a shallow phony.

I'm pretty sure it'd be Dean. As the definitive frontrunner without Kerry, he probably wouldn't boneheadedly insult the Iowa caucus on local TV in the run-up to it.

Or maybe it's Wesley Clark, if the universe hates us

[Fuzzy Bear]

The race would have come down to a contest between Howard Dean and Joe Lieberman.  It is possible that Dean would have won the nomination under those circumstances.  Lieberman, certainly, would have done better than he did.