In an effort to get students excited about the upcoming Democratic presidential primaries, the Stanford Democrats conducted straw polling in White Plaza last week and during the Admit Weekend Activities Fair to see which contender is most popular among the students here. Sneakily, the group included Al Gore among the potential candidates even though he has not done much to move in that direction. Probably a little bit of wishful thinking on their part (and what can I say? I'm a fan too). They also excluded the several other Democratic contenders, including Dennis Kucinich, who should at least get some of the sympathy vote. But for what they're worth, the results are pretty interesting (150 total votes):

Senator Barack Obama -- 50%
Senator Hillary Clinton -- 27%
Fmr. Senator John Edwards -- 11%
Governor Bill Richardson -- 7%
Fmr. Vice President Al Gore -- 5%

In their ProFroPo (that's "Prospective Freshman Poll") during the Activities Fair, Senator Obama scored an astounding 68% among the ProFros, compared to 9% each for Clinton, Edwards, and Gore. Wow.