Informed Speculation

…while Edwards whiffs, despite his team’s best efforts at the spin game: Aides to Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said today that their campaign’s strategy of aggressively cultivating small donors was the key to meeting their $9 million second-quarter fundraising goal. But with Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, expected to raise about triple [...]

When the smoke clears from all the Fred Thompson hype and the anti-Rudy backlash over his position on abortion, it’s a tiny bit surprising to see that Giuliani is still the Republican front runner by a large margin. Rudy has 32 percent support in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, compared to 19 for McCain, [...]

Ye gods, that was just about unbearable. The more I see of these debates, the more convinced I am that they are an almost completely useless contrivance. But I’ll plow ahead: One, the reason I could NEVER be a Democrat is summed up nicely by the round of applause Kucinich got when he suggested we [...]

…and it is, because it’s a broad generalization that borders on a smear, it’s not at all unfair to take individual Democrats to account for such weakness.  I present to you one John Edwards: The U.S.-led war on terrorism is “a bumper sticker, not a plan” that has weakened Washington’s global standing, Democratic presidential candidate [...]

Some news sure to calm the nerves of Rudy supporters who haven’t had much to cheer about over the last couple of weeks, and further confirmation that Hillary is widening her lead over Obama, comes from Gallup today: A new USA Today/Gallup poll finds Hillary Clinton solidifying her lead over Barack Obama and the rest [...]

Is Obama still a rock star? Instead of Bono, he’s starting to poll more like Art Garfunkel (take that, all you other political writer types out there!): Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York, has increased her lead over the Democratic field in the race for the presidential nomination, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll [...]

General observations: the front-runners didn’t suffer any huge gaffes, but they were pretty unimpressive for the most part. Mike Gravel: F-.  My God, what a nut…anyone who watched that debate and would still consider voting for Gravel must be a blood relative.  ‘Nuff said about this VERY marginal candidate. Dennis Kucinich: B.  Kucinich is a blazing [...]

…from the NY Times showing where the various candidates Q1 expenditures came from, by ZIP code.  The biggest recipient of Austin funds? One Hillary Clinton.  The only surprise is that it wasn’t Obama or Edwards…then again, I should have remembered that 99.7% of Austin progressives haven’t got two dimes to rub together…it’s the old school [...]

Into double-digits at last, according to the new TIME poll: Democrats (Respondents were presented with the choice of the following 3 candidates) Clinton 33 (-5 vs last poll March 23-26) Obama 26 (-4) Edwards 25 (-1) No Answer/Don’t Know 13 (+9) _____________ Republicans (Respondents were presented with the choice of the following 5 candidates) Giuliani [...]

Well, well, well, it’s certainly been a bad early spring for John McCain.  To be losing so decisively to Rudy is one thing, but when an undeclared candidate is running ahead of the former frontrunner, that’s big: Sen. John McCain, once considered the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, has fallen to third place in [...]

Lots of juice in the latest Gallup results for political junkies on both sides of the aisle.  Let’s begin with the Democrats. Hillary is at 38%, Obama at 19%, Edwards at 15%, and Al Gore at 14%.  Reading between the lines, I see…bad news for Hillary. Why? How can I say that about a candidate who [...]

…but if you didn’t, Tony Snow’s cancer has returned and it has spread. Not what you want to hear, but our prayers and thoughts are with him and his family (and of course, with John and Elizabeth Edwards, as well). Politics and partisanship must stand aside in place of human decency at times like this. [...]

The frontrunners continue to far outpace their rivals, and Fred Thompson shows up big in his first Zogby poll: Republican Rudy Giuliani and Democrat Hillary Clinton, both of New York state, continue to enjoy significant leads over rivals in national tests of likely primary voters, a new Zogby International telephone poll shows. Meanwhile, Giuliani’s edge [...]

…if your name is Rudy Giuliani.  From Rasmussen: If you’re a fan of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) you probably can’t believe all the good news surrounding the Presidential hopeful. He leads the Republican Primary polls, has the highest favorability rating of all candidates, and leads every Democrat in general election match-ups. [...]

Bit of an embarrassment today for the Politico, which got nationwide buzz from a story claiming John Edwards was suspending his ’08 bid in the face of the resurgence of his wife’s cancer (and our prayers go with her).  Problem was, the story was wrong.  Ben Smith tries to explain: I started work in Brooklyn [...]

Ryan Grim details a scenario that should be cause for concern for all moderate, non-’progressive’ liberals: the complete domination of Harry Reid by the likes of Matt Stoller and Kos. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had been under weeks of pressure from liberal bloggers and MoveOn.org members angry about a scheduled Democratic debate co-sponsored by [...]

John Edwards is betting the bank that it is: …[T]he 2004 vice presidential nominee has a repackaged message framing the campaign as a struggle that pits the political and corporate elite against regular people who just want to make a decent living, afford health care and end the Iraq war. Edwards, who made millions as [...]

The good news for Republicans from the latest Nevada polling results is that with either McCain or Giuliani, they currently lead Obama, Clinton, Edwards, and Gore in head-to-head matchups – though in many cases within the margin of error.  Rudy has opened a 20 point lead over McCain among Nevada Republicans, and Romney scores just 4% [...]

Isn’t she just marvelous? “I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word ‘faggot,’ so I — so kind of an impasse, can’t really talk about Edwards,” Ann Coulter said today at CPAC. [...]

Whoa, now THIS is a lead: In the Republican race, former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who recently made clear his intentions to seek the presidency, has expanded his lead over Sen. John McCain of Arizona. Giuliani holds a 2 to 1 advantage over McCain among Republicans, according to the poll, more than tripling [...]