Clinton has big lead, but rivals say just wait

[BeyondGeography]

By Steve Holland
Reuters
Wednesday, August 8, 2007; 4:54 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton has surged to a big lead in national polls for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination but her chief rivals say the polls are overblown and the race is far from over.

...Democratic strategist Jenny Backus, who is neutral in the 2008 nomination race, said the national polls are important but that Obama and Edwards are making the race a more difficult one for Clinton than her camp had anticipated. "I think Hillary is the front-runner but not the front-runner she thought she was going to be when this race started. She was supposed to be this colossus striding over a field of pygmies. But instead she's in a hand-to-hand battle with one very ferocious competitor and a couple others breathing on her heels," said Backus.

...The Obama and Edwards camps are dismissing the polling numbers, pointing out that opinion surveys over the years have offered a skewed picture. A poll in August 2003, for example, showed the ultimate 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry in fifth place behind other challengers. Obama is doing well in the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, and Edwards is holding his own as well, especially in Iowa. Many believe the candidate who does well in those states will gain momentum for the contests ahead.

..."The history of America elections is littered with candidates who bragged about their high national poll numbers and their 'inevitability,' only to lose months later when voters in Iowa or New Hampshire realized they weren't the strongest candidate," said Edwards spokeswoman Colleen Murray.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/08/AR2007080801761.html