According to the San Francisco Chronicle:
On the Democratic side, the combined results of three nightly samplings of 400 different voters - for Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday - found Hillary Rodham Clinton at 36 percent, Obama at 31 percent and John Edwards at 12 percent.But when taken alone, Sunday's tracking - just a day after Obama's big win in the South Carolina primary - had Obama leading Clinton, 35 percent to 32 percent, with Edwards' share growing to 16 percent. And pretty much the same numbers came up Monday.
Obviously, that's great news from California, but in a way this is even better news (courtesy of Gallup):
Barack Obama has now cut the gap with Hillary Clinton to 6 percentage points among Democrats nationally in the Gallup Poll Daily tracking three-day average, and interviewing conducted Tuesday night shows the gap between the two candidates is within a few points. Obama's position has been strengthening on a day-by-day basis. As recently as Jan. 18-20, Clinton led Obama by 20 points. Today's Gallup Poll Daily tracking is based on interviews conducted Jan. 27-29, all after Obama's overwhelming victory in South Carolina on Saturday. Two out of the three nights interviewing were conducted after the high-visibility endorsement of Obama by Sen. Edward Kennedy and his niece Caroline Kennedy.[...]
These national numbers are a critically important indicator of the political environment when voters in more than 20 states go to the polls next Tuesday. At the moment, Obama has the momentum among Democrats nationally.
Yeah, you can say that again, which is part of the reason why we get the panicky, over-the-top spin from the Clinton campaign on things like primaries that award no delegates. Meanwhile, Obama picks up endorsements and kind words from former Presidents like this one. :)
No teacher's pet: Clinton's big endorsement from the powerful California Teachers Association got upended over the weekend.It all began Thursday when the dozen-member executive board of the teachers union - headed by Clinton ally and longtime Santa Maria educator David Sanchez - announced it had voted unanimously to back Clinton in Tuesday's Democratic primary.
Getting the teachers' backing would have opened up the union's substantial checkbook to Clinton. It also would have led to mass mailings to voters, including to the union's 360,000 members, plus the potential for major phone-bank help and other get-out-the-vote efforts on election day.
And a board endorsement almost always guarantees the membership endorsement.
But before teachers union leaders could get an up-or-down membership vote on Clinton over the weekend at a big confab in L.A., unrest broke out among the rank and file. They blocked any vote until the board's next meeting in April - two months after Tuesday's primary, when it really counts.
Word is, it didn't help that Clinton's union forces had blocked the affiliated United Teachers of Los Angeles from endorsing Obama a week earlier - and that many of its members were on hand for Saturday's vote.
You find it 'interesting' that Florida doesn't count? How do you find that 'interesting?' What exactly are you talking about?
Everyone know that Florida was not going to be counted on account of jumping ahead with their primary date. Florida is meaningless because it gets no delegates this year and it's extra meaningless because the candidates did not campaign there. So all that Florida tells us is what happens when an election doesn't matter and when nobody bothers to campaign. How is that remotely useful or 'interesting?' I bet this really sets the stage for every other mock election that results in no delegates, right?
Clinton and her supporters are trying to make something of Florida because you HAVE NO MOMENTUM. You guys are losing, losing sucks, so you're trying look like you aren't losing after all.
If posing only earned delegates, Hillary Clinton would be winning right now.
America is sick of dynasties. Being related to someone powerful is not a qualification for high office. This was true of G.W. Bush and it's true of Hillary 'I-am-defined-by-my-husband' Clinton. We're wiping out the whole sick mess of Bushes and Clintons and Obama is now leading the charge.
http://www.realclearpolitics.c...
Obama calls Clinton divisive figure(AP) Democratic White House candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday said rival Hillary Rodham Clinton is too polarizing to win the presidency and she has taken positions shared by President Bush and Republican candidate John McCain for political expediency.
Obama depicted Clinton as a calculating, poll-tested divisive figure who will only inspire greater partisan divisions as she sides with Republicans on issues like trade, the role of lobbyists in politics and national security. At the same time, he elevated McCain, fresh off victory in Florida's crucial primary, as the likely Republican nominee.
"Democrats will win in November and build a majority in Congress not by nominating a candidate who will unite the other party against us, but by choosing one who can unite this country around a movement for change," Obama said, speaking as rival John Edwards was pulling out of the race in New Orleans, leaving a Clinton-Obama fight for the Democratic nomination.
"It is time for new leadership that understands the way to win a debate with John McCain or any Republican who is nominated is not by nominating someone who agreed with him on voting for the war in Iraq or who agreed with him in voting to give George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran, who agrees with him in embracing the Bush-Cheney policy of not talking to leaders we don't like, who actually differed with him by arguing for exceptions for torture before changing positions when the politics of the moment changed," Obama said.
"We need to offer the American people a clear contrast on national security, and when I am the nominee of the Democratic Party, that is exactly what I will do," he said. ...
What Florida tells us is that Hillary is the preferred Democrat in the state that most resembles the demographic of the country...I understand why Obama supporters want to downplay that fact...but it is a fact...
What I also find interesting is that those who wail the loudest about the unfairness of the primary/caucus system don't seem to be bothered when the person winning the popular vote in these states doesn't win the most delegates...I'll keep it in mind next time I hear them gnash their teeth about the electoral college.
Please point me to a single shred of empirical evidence (your opinion does not qualify), that shows me the fact Hillary is a Clinton is a factor for those not voting for her.
Neither is being charming and eloquent.
Those early polls that had Hillary up so much were really before there was any focus on the race except among political junkies, and those results more likely than not reflected name recognition.
I'm not arguing with the larger point that since S.C. Obama has picked up support -- the tracking can't be ignored -- but it's not really as dramatic as these stories suggest. The race was bound to tighten no matter what.
I still don't think the point of the magnitude of the narrowed gap is meaningful. Gallup had Hillary up by 4 in early January.
"Thousands of people turned out this morning for Sen. Barack Obama's rally at the 9,000-person capacity Magness Arena in the University of Denver's Ritchie Center.Obama, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president, calls the event "a community gathering for change."
Mary Weber of Golden was among those standing in a long line to get inside.
"This is tremendous," she said. "This is going to be the biggest landslide for Democrats."
Obama excitement thick at DUThe Denver Post
01/30/2008 10:42:09 AM MST... Also among the attendees is Scott Barber, a senior at the University of Colorado in Boulder and a registered Republican who is leaning toward Obama.
Barber and fellow student Mackenzie Todd got up at 6:30 for the drive in and dealt with the throng, despite the fact Todd is recovering from knee surgery and is on crutches.
"I'm hoping to see some change," Barber said of his interest in a Democrat. "I like what he's standing for. I like that he's a fresh face."
I Can't Believe Ever Supported HerShe and Bill are really playing dirty in the primary with Obama now.
Hahahahahaha. I'm not kidding, check it out. :)
The combination of Sen. Barack Obama's (Ill.) unexpected landslide in South Carolina and Sen. Teddy Kennedy's (Mass.) dramatic endorsement mean real trouble for Sen. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.). This is not what she expected on a smooth run to the nomination. Her name ID may be enough in Super Tuesday states, but she can no longer be so certain.
Also:
Republican political leaders are split over whether they would rather run against Clinton or Obama, but the big majority of them see Clinton as a more beatable foe. There is no difference of opinion among Democratic political leaders. They see McCain as the most difficult Republican to defeat.
Does anyone know more about which states did early voting? Early voting favors Hillary a great deal it seems.