Terri Hallenbeck

Free Press Staff Writer

Sen. Bernie Sanders' bid for president is getting enough attention that Sanders is now showing up in poll numbers. He doesn't, mind you, show strongly in the polls, but he's there.

A McClatchy-Marist poll released Monday lists Sanders as receiving 4 percent support among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents for the 2016 presidential nomination. Hillary Clinton leads with 64 percent, followed by Vice President Joe Biden at 15 percent and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 8 percent. Sanders fared better than Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley's 2 percent and former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb's 1 percent.

Sanders' 4 percent polling puts him in better stead than former Gov. Howard Dean was in at this stage during his 2004 presidential bid. In 2002, with two years to go before the election, Dean drew just 2 percent in a New Hampshire poll. A year later, Dean was tied for the lead with 26 percent. He would become the front-runner briefly before petering out.

Sanders, the Vermont independent senator, has said he has made no decision about whether he will run for president or whether he would run as a Democrat or an independent. MSNBC reported last week that Sanders is leaning heavily toward running.