Clearly the Iowa results had changed a dynamic for the Democrats. Mr. Obama’s victory left Mrs. Clinton, whose lead in national polls has been fading for weeks, with the delicate challenge of needing to fight back and continue stressing her experience, without appearing unlikable, shrill or too wedded to Washington.

On the Republican side, New Hampshire appears crucial for Mr. Romney, but less so for Mr. Huckabee, who never expected to do well in the Northeastern state and who said, amiably, on Sunday that he would be perfectly happy with a third-place finish.

[ 06 January 2008: Message edited by: Geneva ]

“Barack Obama has cut a seventeen-point deficit to just two points today,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center. “He’s done this in four days with no sign of a slowing trend.”

Edwards remains viable at 14 percent, which is helping Clinton maintain a slight edge. However, if in the last 48 hours Edwards voters choose one of the top two candidates, survey research suggests that Edwards’ demographics already are predisposed to rotating to Obama.

[...]
Ron Paul passes Huckabee
In the Republican Primary, the 7NEWS/Suffolk University poll shows Romney (30 percent) leading McCain (27 percent), followed by Rudy Giuliani (10 percent), Ron Paul (9 percent), Mike Huckabee (7 percent), Fred Thompson (2 percent) and Duncan Hunter (1 percent). Twelve percent were undecided. Paul is now polling ahead of Iowa Caucus winner Huckabee.

[ 06 January 2008: Message edited by: Geneva ]

Plus, with her little Ed Muskie moment today (possibly this cycle's 'Dean Scream'?) it's starting to look more and more like she's toast.

I hate being so cynical. But it just seemed way too well-done to me. Just the right amount of voice-catch, without actually losing her composure... But on the other hand, she's had a rough couple of days...

Unfortunately, I don't think Clinton can catch a break. If she campaigns like men and acts like men, people think she's cold. If she shows emotion, people wonder whether people will consider it "showing weakness" or if it will seem calculated (which I admit was my first reaction, but then, that would be my reaction had any of the men running, or Kerry last time around, done it).

[ 07 January 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]

quote:

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Originally posted by ghoris:
I think, however, that Obama should seriously consider offering her the VP slot, and that she should seriously consider taking it.

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I think it makes a lot of sense for Hillary to be in the number-two slot. Obama will be the odds-on favourite to win the White House, so assuming he wins, the Dem nomination will not be up for grabs until 2016 at the earliest, by which time HRC will be well past her best-before date. On the other hand, if she takes the number-two slot, she still gets into the history books as the first female VP and can put her much-ballyhooed 'experience' to work and become a huge player in the administration - sort of Obama's Cheney (only not, y'know, pure evil).

I similarly doubt Edwards will be the number two spot on the ticket. Maybe it's my visceral dislike of Edwards (he just strikes me as a total phony) and my doubts about his sudden conversion to progressive politics (which has little relationship to his actual voting record), but I would be both surprised and disappointed if he was a second-time VP nominee.

In Dixville Notch:

Giuliani: 1
Huckabee: 0
McCain: 4
Romney: 2

Clinton: 0
Edwards: 2
Richardson: 1
Obama: 7

In Hart's Location:

Obama: 9
Clinton: 3
Edwards: 1

quote:

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Originally posted by ghoris:
If Obama's campaign is about reaching out to independents and disaffected Republicans and creating a 'new kind' of politics

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... and he succeeds within both the Democratic Party as well as with the public at large, then he's the next president.

As for VP, he will have to balance the ticket with someone from the south... perhaps John Edwards.

By the time Super Tuesday rolls around, things will become ice-water clear.

[ 07 January 2008: Message edited by: Centrist ]

I make no bones about it: I want Clinton defeated. I think the DLC that bent over backwards to accomodate the Right - hell, sometimes rushed pass the Right in their enthusiasm - needs to be repudiated. And if Edwards can hammer home that message, then he has done his job in this campaign whether he wins or loses.