Governor Wins Vote on Internet

The first presidential "primary" ever held on the internet resulted in a victory yesterday for the liberal Vermont governor, Howard Dean.

A total of 317,647 people cast ballots in the online vote, more than the combined total of those who voted in the last Iowa and New Hampshire primaries, regarded as the traditional starting point of the campaign for a nomination.

The primary, set up by the organisation MoveOn.org, is not binding on the Democratic party, but will serve as a useful pointer for candidates. Mr Dean won 44% of the vote, well ahead of his two nearest challengers for the party's nomination next year, Denis Kucinich (24%), and John Kerry (16%).

The other contestents scored poorly: John Edwards 3%, Richard Gephardt, Bob Graham, Carol Moseley Braun and Joe Lieberman all 2% and Al Sharpton ½%.

MoveOn has become one of the most influential political organisations of the left in the US. Started by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, it now has a membership of 1.4 million, all connected by the internet. They decided to have an early primary for Democrats as part of their campaign to remove President Bush in 2004.

Because no one candidate took more than 50% of the vote, MoveOn will not be endorsing a single contestant.

"One of the most promising results for Democrats in 2004 is that most MoveOn.org voters said they would 'enthusiastically support' a broad array of candidates as the party's nominee next year," said Wes Boyd of MoveOn. "We wanted people to have a seat at the table and they have taken it."