Edwards begins to climb
Hard to believe that the 2008 primary season is right around the corner, but in truth, it's only a little over nine months away and the candidates are starting to register in the public perception. Former Sen. John Edwards, perhaps helped slightly by the announcement of his wife's cancer recurrence, has climbed into a strong second place to Sen. Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire. Clinton has slipped and Sen. Barack Obama is a strong third, basicly tied with Edwards.
The poll, commissioned by CNN/WMUR, and conducted by the University of New Hampshire, found that Edwards moved up from 16 percent in February to 21 percent this month, while Clinton fell from 35 to 27 percent. Obama fell slightly, from 21 percent to 20 percent. Of Democrats polled, 39 percent said the Iraq War would be the most important issue driving their vote in the primary, while 11 percent picked health care. That's bad news for Clinton, who still refuses to apologize for her vote to authorize Bush's war and is paying a political price. Edwards also voted for the resolution, but he has done his mea culpas and has largely been forgiven, or so it would seem. He has positioned himself as the most left-leaning of the major candidates.
Interestingly, Vice President Al Gore, who is not an announced candidate, still picked up 11 percent of Democrats in the poll. The betting money says Gore will win the Nobel Peace Prize for his global warming work this fall, and jump into the race shortly thereafter. I've talked to Democrats who dream of that scenario. Truthfully, I think the Democrats could run George McGovern or Walter Mondale again and trounce whichever midget the Republican Right throws up. But looking at this in serious terms, Gore would be a very attractive candidate to many Americans, not just those who think he was robbed of the Presidency in 2000 by Bush's minions and five members of the Supreme Court.