Coyote Gulch

Sunday, December 23, 2007

? for President?
Juan Cole: "Zogby has just released a national new poll that shows that the proportion of voters who are undecided on both sides of the aisle has fallen dramatically. The chief beneficiaries of the voters making up their minds have been Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee."

Political Wire: "Sen. John McCain of Arizona 'has made a dramatic recovery' in New Hampshire, pulling within 3 points of front-runner Mitt Romney, a new Boston Globe poll indicates. Romney now barely leads with 28%, followed by McCain at 25%, and Rudy Giuliani at 14%. Among Democratic voters, Sen. Barack Obama has opened up a narrow lead over Sen. Hillary Clinton, 30% to 28%. John Edwards is third with 14%."

Fours years ago this week on Coyote Gulch: "A recent Harris nationwide poll shows Howard Dean with 21%. Joe Lieberman is in second place with 10%. A recent Newsweek poll shows Howard Dean leading second place Wesley Clark 26 to 15 with Lieberman following. Here's a recent American Research Group poll for South Carolina. Dean is losing to Undecided with Sharpton third."
"2008 pres"
5:29:07 PM

Middle east policy
Juan Cole: "Speaking of chaos, guerrillas bombed a mosque in northern Pakistan, killing 50 persons, on Saturday. Barnett Rubin explains this horrific event as part of a concerted plan by al-Qaeda and the neo-Taliban in Pakistan to cut off and surround the northern city of Peshawar."
"2008 pres"
9:42:01 AM

? for President?
Oliver Willis: "I swear, it's like the Clinton and Obama campaigns slept through 2003 and 2004. The two campaigns are locked in to sniping at each other over idiotic petty things like how many ex-Clintonistas are attached to which campaign. Does nobody on either team remember the flame war between Dick Gephardt and Howard Dean? I'm not wild about the process and how it gives so much control to a state like Iowa, but that's no excuse for ignoring precedent. The voters there don't like this kind of stuff (I'd go so far as to say it shows immaturity compared to the rest of the electorate, but that's moot) and reward the candidate they see as 'the good guy'. In 2004 it was Kerry, and right now it's probably Edwards. I'm skeptical of how Edwards can parlay an Iowa win into anything beyond the immediate roadblock of New Hampshire where an Iowa bump can't help. But that's no reason for Clinton and Obama to hand him a win."

Chuck Todd, from this morning's Meet the Press, "There is no Republican front runner. Also, the candidate that most worries both Obama and Clinton, "...is John Edwards."

Captain's Quarters: "If any presidential primary ever exemplified None Of The Above, it's the one inflicted on us now. According to Rasmussen, everyone gets a negative favorability rating in this race -- and I mean everyone...Even the best showing for the candidates, Barack Obama (-6%) and John McCain (-11%) have bigger negatives than positives among all voters. This doesn't bode well for the 2008 campaign in either the primaries or the general election. Not only has no one really caught fire, but no one has managed to convert more voters than they've driven off."
"2008 pres"
9:39:14 AM

Iraq
beSpacific: "Project for Excellence in Journalism: 'Through the first 10 months of the year, the portrait of Iraq that Americans have received from the news media has in considerable measure been a grim one. Roughly half of the reporting has consisted of accounts of daily violence. And stories that explicitly assessed the direction of the war have tended toward pessimism, according to a new study of press coverage of events on the ground in Iraq from January through October of 2007.'"
"2008 pres"
9:26:24 AM