March 28th, 2008 by JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief
Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter reports that some Democrats seek to dangle the New York state governorship in front of Senator Hillary Clinton as a consolation prize in the hopes that she won’t battle front-runner Barack Obama all the way to the convention:
Some Democrats terrified that their bloody primary campaign will doom them in November are floating a consolation prize for Hillary Clinton: governor of New York.
The travails of New York Gov. David Paterson have opened up a new potential career path for Clinton, according to well-informed Democratic Party insiders who refused to allow their names to be used when discussing contingencies. They want her to consider the option if she concludes after the April 22 Pennsylvania primary that she cannot overtake Barack Obama for the party’s presidential nomination. Hillary Clinton, while fully committed to continuing her presidential campaign, was said to be open to discussing the idea, while Bill Clinton rejected it out of hand.
With former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani now reported by the New York Post to be weighing a race for governor, voters could see a Clinton-Giuliani matchup after all.
It would be the match-up many expected (a) when Clinton ran for Senator (squelched by Giuliani’s health problems) and (b) when Giuliani ran for President (the conventional wisdom — for a while — was that it would be Clinton versus Giuliani in the general election).
Paterson, a former state senator and lieutenant governor, succeeded Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who was forced to resign earlier this month when he was caught in a prostitution ring. A legally blind African-American with plenty of friends in Albany, Paterson has admitted to extensive drug use when he was young and to having had several extramarital affairs, including one with a New York state employee. The governor has denied using taxpayer money for the affairs, but new rumors are swirling around the scandal-weary state capital.
In the event that Paterson had to resign, the New York State Constitution calls for a gubernatorial election this November. Clinton would be the favorite in that contest if she were interested. Were a politically wounded Paterson to serve out Spitzer’s term, which ends in 2010, Clinton would no doubt be a strong potential candidate to succeed him.
Under the scenario sketched out by the insiders, serving two years as governor would give Clinton the executive experience to become the prohibitive favorite for the 2012 Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton believes that Barack Obama may well lose this year to John McCain, who would be 75 in 2012 and a possible one-term president. Clinton would arguably be better positioned to replace McCain in the White House as a governor than as a senator.
The key to this story is: who sourced it? Did it come from someone sympathetic to the Clinton campaign or a Clinton associate? Or did it come from someone close to the Obama campaign, or Democrats who never really liked Clinton and want her out now ASAP both due the political train-wreck-in-Denver scenario that seems closer every day and the fact that they never really supported her anyway?
It’s not a small question. Because if the story is based on sources that didn’t like Clinton, then it should also be seen as part and parcel of the ongoing attempt to have her quit the race early. For the early part of the campaign the motif was Clinton’s “inevitability.” In this phase, in many quarters, it’s Obama’s “inevitability.”
Apart from that, this is a fascinating report since it again underscores the fears among many Democrats that while Clinton and Obama are battering each other John McCain has a big head start in unifying his party, doing image-enhancing photo-ops, campaigning for the general election, working to raise funds for his party, and blasting the Democratic Party and Obama and Clinton.
The story’s sourcing matters — but so does the political context. Earlier reports also suggested that perhaps she’d be on the fast-track to become Majority Leader — an interesting concept except there are no signs the present Majority Leader is planning to go anywhere. So what would be more beneficial to Clinton IF she cannot get the nomination? Stay in the Senate and, if Obama loses, run as a Senator? Or become governor and get real hands-on executive management experience?
It is very likely this rumour is being circulated by political foes of Mrs Clinton, hoping to expedite her departure from the primary contest. Would the governorship even make sense for her? She has lost a few friends in the Senate in recent months. And being governor would allow her to demonstrate that hands-on, problem-solving ability she likes to tout.
But there are plenty of downsides: Albany is known as a rough-and-tumble place, not necessarily welcoming to outsiders (as Eliot Spitzer learned). And being governor would seemingly eliminate the possibility for any more of those danger-filled international missions that Mrs Clinton likes to talk about. No, she’s a creature of Washington for now. We could see Rudy Giuliani in the governor’s seat though.
Almost a year ago, the Crystal Ball took a first crack at listing the vice presidential possibilities in both parties (LINK). The list has held up surprisingly well. But the justifications for various candidacies have changed, and now that we know John McCain will make the choice, it’s time for reconsideration. (We’ll await the unofficial crowning of the Democratic nominee to play this game on the Democratic side, unless Democrats keep the game tied through the spring. Our discipline can only last so long.)
Let’s start by revising and extending our earlier remarks, and asking the most important question. Ideally, what does a presidential candidate need in a VP ticket-mate? Here are the most important elements, and a second-banana nominee ought to meet most of these criteria:
February 17th, 2008 by JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief
NOTE: Our famous link-fest giving you links to Campaign 2008 posts from weblogs of differing viewpoints, and our pithy comments about many of them. Links and quotes do not necessarily represent the viewpoint of TMV or its co-writers.
The Case For Hillary Clinton And Against Barack Obama is laid out in a MUST READ post by The Democratic Daily’s JoAnne Tybinka Blasko. Pointed? Yes. But it avoids the screaming, adjective-hurling demonization that you now see on many weblogs that have started to endorse candidates and become open soldiers in the political wars. She provides much material for thoughtful — and heated — debate. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to all.
Hillary Clinton Is Busy Today: There are charges that she is running away from the Wisconsin primary to Texas which might not be a bad idea when you look at it.
Weblogs And Commenters Are Becoming Sensitive as election year draws closer. Earlier in the year we got endless emails from Ron Paul supporters if we dared run a post that was critical (we were then called “corrupt” or pitching a candidate, just as we were called “fair” and “really objective” when we had a post that was in the slightest way complimentary). The past two months this has come from Hillary Clinton supporters as we have covered the controversy over Bill Clinton’s role in the campaign and the ex-Prez’s controversial comments. One week we got 6 scolding emails.
In emails and in comments some people STILL insist the the race card was never raised by the Clinton campaign against Senator Barack Obama. So to underscore that we didn’t make it up (and we will continue reporting this and other campaign developments and trends, even though some say they will never return to TMV again if we do) here are two links 4 U:
1. San Diego Union Tribune columnist Ruben Navarrette is the latest to address the issue HERE. He begins:
Defeat has a way of unmasking Hillary Clinton. It’s when she suffers setbacks that the real Hillary comes out.
And it’s not a kinder and gentler version of the original. There are those political observers and pundits who insist that after Clinton lost Iowa, she demonstrated a personal vulnerability that helped her triumph in New Hampshire.
That is — to borrow a phrase — a fairy tale. When Hillary loses, she gets angry and condescending and terribly unappealing.
The same goes for her supporters. Former President Bill Clinton’s “bubba eruptions” came after Hillary Clinton had lost key contests. It was after Hillary’s loss in Iowa that her husband Bill ripped into the media for allegedly going soft on Obama. And it was after Hillary lost South Carolina that Bill tried to cut Obama down to size by comparing him to Jesse Jackson.
Further down:
Then there is the resurgence of the race card. Bill Clinton was criticized for insinuating that black voters in South Carolina would vote for Obama just because he’s black.
Well, in trying to explain why Obama won the Louisiana primary, Hillary did pretty much the same thing by crediting “a very strong and very proud African-American electorate.” They never learn.
And then it got worse. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Clinton supporter, recently told the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that some white people in his state “are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate.” Later, in an interview on MSNBC, the Democrat tried to defend his comments by saying that Hillary Clinton had “the same handicap” since there were men who didn’t want to see a woman serve as commander in chief.
And they say all the cavemen are Republicans.
All of this has been discussed ad nauseum in weblogs, on TV and the radio so those in emails and in comments who insist the issue never came up are….a bit “uninformed.”
2. Andrew Walden, Editor of the Hawai`i Free Press in Hilo, HI, writing in Pajamas Media, looks at the use of the race card in the Clinton campaign. Here’s the beginning:
Nearly two weeks after a crime had been committed in South Carolina, the prime suspect, Bill Clinton, was finally “tracked down at a local diner” in Maine February 8. Wagging his familiar finger, Clinton informed a reporter from Maine TV station WCSH that he “learned a very valuable lesson. … I have to let her defend herself.” And just in case the old familiar wagging finger was not enough, Bill added the biggest whopper of all: “I don’t want to be the story.”
But if the polls are to be believed, hiding Bill up in Maine was too little, too late. Democrats are abandoning Bill Clinton — and Hillary — like rats from a sinking ship. The Clinton-Obama near-tie on Super Tuesday was the line of Obama’s ascent crossing that of Hillary Clinton’s demise. Barack Obama has proceeded to defeat Hillary in every state since. Bill Clinton’s power is no longer “crackling through his jeans.” The sudden loss is the Clintons’ Ceausescu moment.
Is racism the unforgivable crime finally ending Democrats’ 16-year love affair with Bill Clinton? No, it’s worse: from New Hampshire to South Carolina, Clinton’s carefully calculated and racially tinged attacks on Obama risked setting black America free from the Democrat Party.
He details how JFK won black voters in 1960, cementing them to the Democratic coalition. Then he writes:
Bill Clinton’s campaign strategy comes right out of Hillary’s infamous and long-hidden 1969 senior thesis on radical organizer Saul Alinsky. Alinsky’s 13th Rule for Radicals is: “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” For three weeks in January, the Clintons and their backers did their best to polarize non-black Democrat voters against Obama, bringing up Obama’s admitted past drug use and firing off one-liners like “Lyndon Johnson,” “fairy-tale,” “shuck and jive,” and “spade work” to increasing choruses of anger from liberals and conservatives alike. But it backfired.
February 13th, 2008 by DAVID SCHRAUB, Assistant Editor
Back in the day, I noted the absurdity of anyone railing on Obama’s “lack of experience” while giving anything but scorn to Rudy Giuliani. Alas, Hizzoner’s brilliant campaign strategy (”1.Lose state after state by resounding margins. 2. ? 3. Victory!”) somehow foundered, so that rule is now moot. However, we have a replacement: neither John McCain nor his supporters get to complain about Obama’s supposed lack of specificity, or his supposed lack of policy knowledge, or his supposed appeal that is based solely on his personal attributes.
McCain takes a strong interest in foreign policy, to be sure, but his main public appeal has been to endless remind voters of his history as a POW. On economics, he’s repeatedly admitted that he knows very little. And on social issues, he doesn’t even know what his own positions are. (See this hilarious report from last year.)
McCain is like Obama in that he’s appealed to voters largely on the basis of broad themes and his personal charisma and history. The difference is that Obama is a former law professor who’s actually done his homework on the policy, and McCain is still winging it.
Of course, this is St. McCain we’re talking about, so rest assured he’ll never be called on it.
It seems that not all Europeans favor Barack Obama. João Marques de Almeida of Portugal’s leading business daily Diario Economico writes, ‘For a liberal, center-right European, John McCain is the preferred North American candidate … There are few things better than to see a free politician.’ He goes on to argue against what was in the end Mitt Romney’s greatest appeal: ‘In times of crisis, it’s more important to have a politician with experience than one with an understanding of economics.’
By João Marques de Almeida*
Translated By Brandi Miller
February 7, 2008
For a liberal, center-right European, John McCain is the preferred North American candidate. For his liberal views of society and the economy, he’s preferable to any other Republican candidate. I have the greatest respect for the Christian religion and its unique place in Western history (of which, incidentally, I am very proud), but I think that years of sermons in churches of the southern United States, where one rapidly loses rationality, is not the best preparation for taking power.
Neither does this position expose any particular dislike for the Democratic candidates, despite the fact that Bill Clinton’s hyper-active promotion of his wife causes me some discomfort. As a matter of principle, it’s not good for an unelected person to have such enormous influence over a future president, as would happen if Hillary Clinton were elected.
As for Obama, he undoubtedly has political talent and charisma. However I’m not convinced that he’s prepared to be the American president. I identify much more with McCain’s vision of the world and its dangers and threats than with the positions of Clinton or Obama. There are four questions that from Europe’s perspective are fundamental: keeping troops in Iraq; preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons; engaging in World Trade Organization talks to reinforce the global free trade system; reforming the trans-Atlantic alliance and reforming NATO in 2009. I’m not sure a Democratic president will endeavor to accomplish these four objectives like McCain would.
In addition to these reasons, there are three other reasons that lead me to look even enthusiastically to McCain’s candidacy. The first has to do with McCain’s character and personality. There are few things better than to see a free politician. …
READ THE REST ON WORLDMEETS.US, along with our continuing foreign press news coverage of the United States. Tune in during the next 24 hours for translated U.S. election coverage from China, Portugal, France and Brazil.
The results suggest that money and political muscle are not the be-all and end-all for getting to the White House.
John McCain now has a clear path to the Republican nomination, while Mike Huckabee remains to haunt his hopes for a unified Party and may very well end up as his running mate.
Barack Obama has leveled the playing field with Hillary Clinton, cutting into her lead in the delegate count to the point where the once-certain nominee is now calling for more debates to bolster her chances.
What Obama and Huckabee have in common is that a year ago they were candidates with messages who didn’t have the money, the name recognition or the organization to challenge the Clintons’ political juggernaut, Rudy Giuliani’s 9/11 aura or Mitt Romney’s wealth.
But somehow, in the face of those odds, they persuaded different segments of the electorate that they represent the best hope for change from the dismal Bush years.
Six months ago, McCain, better-known but not beloved by conservatives, had slipped off the radar in the polls. But here he is, the front runner as those with more money, celebrity and willingness to pander have gone under.
Super Tuesday doesn’t justify a Pollyanna vision of Presidential politics, but it does undermine the view of cynics who claim that it’s only about money and power.
If the Democratic race heading into Super Tuesday is high drama, the Republican race is comic soap opera.
The number of emergency room admissions following right-wing harpie Ann Coulter’s announcement that she will back Hillary Clinton if John McCain is the nominee seem to have tapered off, but a goodly number of inmates in the conservative asylum are still locked in the rubber room.
I never was any good at calculus, which might explain why I have trouble understanding why conservatives are so horrified at a McCain candidacy and stranger still is that a goodly number of them are fleeing into Mitt Romney’s wet but welcoming grasp.
McCain on his most unconservative day has been more conservative than Romney ever was before he took a secret trip to Sweden to have that operation.
No, not a sex-change operation, Silly, but a procedure that enables Romney to look into conservative eyes and say “I . . . am . . one . . . of . . . your . . . own” with a Borg-like intensity that turns people who haven’t changed their minds about anything, let alone politics, since forever into gelid supplicants.
The field has narrowed a bit since the last time I posted on the presidential candidates’ reading choices (back in May, when they were asked to name the most recent fiction book they’d read). This week, Katie Couric asked the candidates “If you were elected president, what is the one book other than the Bible you would think is essential to have along?” (In fact I should note that the field has even narrowed since she asked the question: Giuliani and Edwards are included).
The video and text of the candidates’ responses are here, but they’re worth examining a bit.
John McCain, perhaps in a continued attempt to prove his knowledge of economics, selected Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. A standard text in the field, but perhaps just slightly dated in some senses.
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney took the political biographies route, choosing Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals and David McCullough’s John Adams respectively. Obama said of his choice “[Goodwin] talks about Lincoln’s capacity to bring opponents of his and people who have run against him in his cabinet. And he was confident enough to be willing to have these dissenting voices and confident enough to listen to the American people and push them outside of their comfort zone. And I think that part of what I want to do as president is push Americans a little bit outside of their comfort zone. It’s a remarkable study in leadership.” An excellent choice and well-considered rationale.
Romney said that McCullough’s book “connected with me in an unusual way - because of [John Adams’] relationship with Abigail - their closeness, and the extensive letter-writing. You saw something about his heart and character: A truly great leader who made a difference for America. And his example is one I’d want to follow.” It is a wonderful book, but I’m not sure Romney would want to run on Adams’ presidential record, which is (mostly undeservedly) not particularly well regarded.
Giuliani and Clinton both took the smooth path, choosing The Federalist Papers (Clinton prefaced her choice by saying “I would certainly bring my copy of the Constitution because there was apparently not a copy in the Bush White House to the best Read the rest of this entry »
Two heavyweights, John Edwards and Rudy Giuliani, got out of the ring today and left behind different modes of fighting for the presidency and being beaten.
Edwards, who began his campaign in New Orleans a year ago, ended it there and symbolically went to work building a house with Habitat for Humanity. He worked hard on the campaign trail, basing his claim to the nomination on an honorable Democratic tradition of fighting for the poor and dispossessed.
Giuliani, on the other hand, all smiles and guile, tried to ride the 9/11 wave that made him rich all the way to the White House, disdaining the early primaries and expecting to be anointed the Republican candidate with even less exertion than lackadaisical Fred Thompson, who at least showed up for the early contests.
Typically, Giuliani is trading in the fruits of his minimal effort by endorsing John McCain in return for who-knows-what if McCain gets to the White House. Edwards may eventually attempt to convert his delegates and supporters into leverage, but for now is pushing Clinton or Obama toward greater emphasis on the issues he raised.
Their personal stories are a contrast as well. Edwards made a run despite his wife’s cancer and with her spirited support. Giuliani was brought down, in part, by revelations of his misuse of New York Police to run errands for his third wife-to-be while he was still married to his second.
Running for President is a brutal trial. Edwards is being carried out on his shield. Giuliani leaves without a scratch, except to his ego.
Is it possible that a week from today that the Democratic and Republican presidential races will be over bar the shouting?
The likelihood the 22-state Super Tuesday primaries will produce prohibitive favorites in either let alone both parties would not seem to be great. But big-state wins by Hillary Clinton and John McCain would make them the presumptive nominees because it would be extremely difficult for their chief rivals — Barack Obama and Mitt Romney — to play catch up in the convention delegate races.
The wrangling between the Clinton and Obama campaigns over single delegates as in Nevada and Clinton’s push to seat blackballed Michigan and Florida delegates when there are more than 4,000 at stake shows how important the delegate race is going into Super Tuesday, especially with John Edwards now bowing out.
* * * * *
It took a few weeks longer than the Democrats, but a welcome shakeout in the Republican race after the Florida primary vote left Rudy Giuliani sucking his thumb and Mike Huckabee sucking his rivals’ dust.
Although Romney was a relatively close second to McCain, who got 36 percent of the vote compared to his 31 percent, Romney has won only one of the five contests he has entered and that was in Michigan where he has native-son status. In a way, the race is now Romney’s to lose although he has only two clear-cut advantages over McCain at this critical juncture — he is better organized in more states and can spend his sons’ inheritance to a fare thee well while the Arizona senator is scraping the bottom of the fundraising barrel.
Nevertheless, McCain’s win on a top-down-on-the-convertible Florida winter day was all the more impressive because this was a closed primary in which only registered Republicans could vote and he received broad support from mainstream Republicans in what will be a crucial swing state in November.
Considering the general suspicion and negativity towards Europe among the Republicans, it is great news that John McCain is the frontrunner. For Europe he would be better than any other Republican candidate.
The Atlantic Community reviewed the Republican candidates’ statements on Europe and transatlantic affairs and concludes:
Huckabee claims Europe is (unintentionally) to blame for some of the US’ biggest terror threats, Romney is using an anti-European stance to further his campaign, Giuliani is turning away from Europe to focus on Asia, while McCain, appears committed to revitalizing transatlantic relations.
Compared to the Democrats, however, McCain would not stand much of chance to be elected in Europe.
Republican presidential primary candidate and former Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani’s concession speech this evening, after a third place finish in the Florida GOP primary, is being called indicative of an imminent withdrawal from the race. From Politics on the Hudson:
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani gave a last hurrah speech tonight following his third place showing in today’s Florida primary without officially announcing his withdrawal from the presidential race.
Giuliani is expected to officially announce his withdrawal tomorrow at a press conference in California announcing his endorsement Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
Update [2008-1-29 21:25:28 by Todd Beeton]:He’s trying to get out with his dignity intact. I’d say it’s a close call.
“Thanks to Ron Paul too, he won every debate!”
He’s certainly showing more personality and passion in this speech than I’ve ever seen from him.
Haha. “We ran a campaign that was uplifting.” Wha-? “…a return to honesty and substance in our political discussion.” Huh?
Update [2008-1-29 21:26:4 by Jonathan Singer]: It’s not quite a Nixonian flameout, but I keep thinking I’m going to hear the words, “You’re not going to have Giuliani to kick around anymore…”
And, like other outlets, USA Today noted the past tense of his words Tuesday evening:
In remarks to supporters in Orlando, he referred to his candidacy repeatedly in the past tense — as though it was over. “We’ll stay involved and together we’ll make sure that we’ll do everything we can to hand our nation off to the next generation better than it was before,” he said.
Republicans: McCain at 36 percent gets all 57 delegates, Romney 31 percent, Giuliani 15 percent & Huckabee 13 percent. Giuliani to withdraw from the race and will reportedly endorse McCain.
Democrats: Hillary Clinton whomps the field but may not get any delegates.
January 28th, 2008 by BRIJ KHINDARIA, International Columnist
The Republican Party’s disarray heading into the Florida primary and the recent return to favor of John McCain in the polls is causing fear in some European quarters and relief in others.
Most Europeans are against the Iraq war and they fear that McCain will prefer to score some kind of victory in Iraq rather than withdraw to cut losses, regardless of what happens on the ground. Others think he might bring some sanity into US policy by drawing down the war and turning more energetically to regional diplomacy to fashion a safe exit for American troops.
The contradictory expectations from the same person are testimony to the mixed signals being sent around the world by the ever-changing messages of candidates as they jockey for favor in the primaries.
In particular, they reflect poorly on McCain who was generally seen in Europe as a person with firm and honest convictions who did not hesitate to follow his conscience in going against the administration or the Republican Party. He is now perceived as having too many worrisome fuzzy edges to be the entire West’s leader.
At this time, many in Europe see Rudy Giuliani as a one trick pony still trying to profit from his performance in the aftermath of 9/11, although he does not seem to have core Republican convictions because of his positions on homosexuality, abortions and the sanctity of one marriage for life.
Mitt Romney is perceived as a lightweight because he is known less as a politician and more as a businessman in Europe, where business persons do not get the respect they receive in the US. His economic skills carry some weight but Europeans think he will be stymied by the distrust of American Christians if he ends up being the Presidential candidate.
Many worry he may have to spend too much time proving that he has the right kind of religious convictions for American voters. Focus on religion makes Europeans uncomfortable because most are Christian only in name and do not want religion to become a factor in world politics.
Perhaps the greatest fear of Europeans is a clash of civilizations with Islam encouraged by the domestic imperatives of Christian politics in the US. While Americans decide whether or not someone is a Christian of the right kind, extremists of non-Christian religions start to fear that the US, which leads the West, may be drawing a circle around Christianity to put it on a pedestal above other religions.
The intricacies of America’s Christian cults and sects receive little understanding among non Christians who see only that religion increasingly influences how people vote in the US. Such fear helps to generate suicide bombers and insurgents as the only responses available to weak non-Christians against a power, which is overwhelmingly strong and now seemingly on a path to being a citadel of Christian beliefs with the democratic support of its people.
We can only hope that Super Tuesday hatches something useful for Americans and Europeans. A further nine months of mud-slinging and confusion at a time when all of us need cooperation and clarity may turn many non-Americans against the US-style democratic process. That would be a real loss for the entire world’s democracies.
January 28th, 2008 by JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief
If various reports and polls from Florida are to be believed, all former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani needs to do is to climb up on a palm tree and shout: “I’m King of the world!!!”
By most accounts, Giuliani’s big gambit to make a huge political impression in Florida has succeeded: unless there is an upset, he’s likely to flop at the polls tomorrow and his early, and in-retrospect flawed, primary strategy will indeed be talked about for years.
Could the two front-runners Arizona Senator John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney siphon-off enough votes from each other to put Rudy in? Perhaps. But these days, analysts note, he’s teetering towards third-fourth place. Giuliani is in political trouble and should call 911 (OOPS! He’s done that MANY TIMES already):
Florida now appears to be a two-way race between Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain, as two new polls show Rudolph W. Giuliani losing support after skipping six straight presidential-nomination contests.
Just 48 hours before the Florida primary, the former Massachusetts governor and the senator from Arizona are deadlocked at 30 percent, according a Reuters-CSPAN-Zogby poll released yesterday. Another poll, by Rasmussen Reports, showed Mr. Romney up by six percentage points over Mr. McCain.
But both polls show the former New York City mayor unable to reignite his campaign. The Zogby poll showed Mr. Giuliani slumping to fourth place — one point behind former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee — at 13 percent, down two points from its last poll. The Rasmussen poll put Mr. Giuliani at 14 percent.
In what’s become a two-man game for the Republicans, Arizona Sen. John McCain now holds a slim lead over rival Mitt Romney while all others lag well behind in the Florida primary race, the latest Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby telephone tracking poll shows.
Boosted by a strong endorsement from Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, McCain has 33% support, compared to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who wins 30% backing. The two leaders have been locked in a tight contest ahead of Tuesday’s election. This three-day tracking poll, which surveyed 818 likely Republican voters, carries a margin for error of +/- 3.4% and was conducted Jan. 25-27.
Eight percent of voters remained undecided in the tight race.
In the battle for third place, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is once again ahead of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, 14% to 11%. Huckabee had leapt ahead of Giuliani in yesterday’s three-day tracking poll, but he gave back three points in the last 24 hours and again trails Giuliani.]
Pollster John Zogby flatly says:”Giuliani is becoming less of a factor in Florida…This is a two-man race: It’s all coming down to McCain versus Romney.” Read the rest of this entry »
It seems appropriate that I got “trapped” in the comments section at Captain’s Quarters and couldn’t get out after reading the 200-plus responses to Ed Morrissey’s decision to caucus for Mitt “Earpiece” Romney in the forthcoming Minnesota caucuses. Ed had said previously that he would make no call at all, but in the end explained it had come down to Romney and Rudy Giuliani.
While many commenters applauded The Captain’s about-face, there was the unmistakable feeling that both blogger and readers were trying to put a good face on what in my view is a weak Republican field.
I have an unabiding respect for The Captain although our political twains seldom meet, and it’s obvious that he’s got a whole lot of clout in the right-of-center party of the blogosphere so his endorsement is important. But Romney is such a transparent flip-flopper and latter-day conservative that Ed was left with little to praise him for other than his “executive experience.”
Don’t I recall another presidential candidate saying that he was the man because of his own “executive experience?”
It seems appropriate that I got “trapped” in the comments section at Captain’s Quarters and couldn’t get out after reading the 200-plus responses to Ed Morrissey’s 
