Front-runners Clinton and McCain losing ground fast/All This Is That's dark horses are mired in the back of the pack

click to enlarge the front runners, climbers,
fallers, & dark horses.

A Newsweek magazine poll released on Saturday shows Republican presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani (more or less tied with John McCain in a January poll) with a 25-point lead over Arizona Senator McCain. Republicans--59 percent--said they backed the former NYC mayor and 34 percent chose McCain. That doesn't leave much for Mitt Romney, who I still feel is a viable dark horse, and who has yet to really emerge from the pack. The magazine notes that ""Most registered Republicans are not familiar with Giuliani's positions on key social issues," mentioning specifically his support for abortion rights and gun control.

Another (Newsweek) poll of registered Democrats shows Sen. Barack Obama chiseling away at fellow Senator Hillary Clinton's lead. In the latest poll, it's 52% Clinton vs. 38% Obama. Again, not much room in there for the dark horse, John Edwards. Or the rest of the vast pack, including Bill Richardson, et al.




Click to enlarge - The real dark horse? Al, if
you do run, bring back the beard. It makes you
look more avuncular, and it's been 91 years
since the last bearded man (Charles Evan
Hughes) ran for President.

Perhaps the real dark horse on the Dem side is the 800 pound gorilla and Oscar winner, Al Gore. He's being coy about a run, but he keeps showing up in all the right places. Is he just laying low, waiting for Obama and Clinton to cut each other to ribbons and/or self-destruct? We may not know for a few months.
---o0o---

Eight Years Ago Today. . .President Bill Clinton Was Acquitted!

Eight years ago today, President Bill Clinton was acquitted in the U.S. Senate. The House of Representatives impeached Clinton on Dec. 19, 1998, and charged him with perjury and obstruction of justice during Lewinsky scandal investigations. The public was fascinated by the machinations of Linda Tripp, the blue dress, and tales of Oval Office sexual encounters. However, they also considered the march toward impeachment a partisan witch-hunt, and not germane to national affairs, and not an impediment to running the United States.

The public in general, while disgusted, considered this investigation to be possibly even less important than the earlier one investigating "Whitewater." In January, 1999, two impeachment counts were tried in the Senate. On February 12, the Senate acquitted Clinton.

---o0o---