http://zogby.com/Soundbites/ReadClips.dbm?ID=114972008 Republican Presidential Rankings - Week 5
Here comes this week’s 2008 presidential candidate rankings:
Republicans
1. Gov. Mike Huckabee (Arkansas) You might be wondering: how can someone that virtually no one knows be ranked the number-one presidential candidate of the incumbent party for an election over three years away? Well, the easy answer is that there’s very little unattractive about Huckabee’s candidacy. When all the other candidates are moving down, Huckabee stays stable and solid. So when everybody else hits the skids, a “nobody” like Huckabee can end up at the top. Don’t be surprised if he’s up here a lot, though. He’s got what it takes, independent of how poorly other candidates might be doing.
2. Gov. Mitt Romney (Massachusetts) It’s tough to have a candidate that might not even be able to run in the top spot, so Romney’s moved down a slot for this week after the announcement that his wife’s case of multiple sclerosis may cause him - like former US Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), whose wife is suffering from cancer - to pass up the 2008 race. Romney also said that he is currently focused on re-election in 2006, which would indicate another move to the left and possibly placing himself outside of the GOP mainstream for 2008.
3. US Sen. George Allen (Virginia) Allen was very well received in New Hampshire this past week. He is focused on re-election in a fairly solidly conservative state, which will likely only reinforce his already strong conservative credentials. If there is one or more very strong Deep South candidate in the race, Allen might have trouble in very significant primaries like South Carolina and Georgia. But, that being said, Allen can win New Hampshire. He’ll need to perhaps get lucky to win some others.
4. US Sen. John McCain (Arizona) He just keeps on doing well in polling, smashing both Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) in head-to-head polls from Zogby America. He’s also leading all other Republican candidates by far at this stage, but that doesn’t mean a whole lot. McCain is the most popular Republican candidate among Democrats and the media, so he will always get a lot of positive coverage. Nevertheless, McCain cannot move above the third slot unless conservative GOP primary voters come back aboard and are willing to vote for him. Such an act does not appear likely in the near future.
5. US Sen. Bill Frist (Tennessee) Rumors and reports from Washington say that a Supreme Court nomination will be made within the next ten days. If that’s the case, Majority Leader Frist may have a very good chance to redeem himself amongst the conservative base who feel that he let them down when he failed to execute the constitutional option on judges.
Democrats
1. US Sen. Hillary Clinton (New York) When Rev. Billy Graham suggests that you ought to run the country, that’s a pretty good sign. It’s not like the complete statement made a whole lot of sense, though. Graham also suggested, in the same breath, that former US president Bill Clinton (D-Ark.) become a preacher. With Bill’s personal history common public knowledge, there are many of jobs that he could hold with dignity, but preacher is not one of them. Nevertheless, any endorsement from somebody like Billy Graham will go over well with independent voters as well as non-partisan voters who consider moral values to be a very high priority.
2. Gov. Mark Warner (Virginia) Like George Allen, Warner has done very well this past week in his visits to primary states. Warner would be at the top of the list if he had gotten an endorsement from Billy Graham instead. Nevertheless, Warner’s strategists received a bit of very positive media exposure as a result of an article that appeared in The Weekly Standard.
3. US Sen. Evan Bayh (Indiana) You know it’s been a slow week for Democrat presidential hopefuls when a boring performance on CNN’s Inside Politics makes its way into a weekly candidate ranking. Thankfully, it’s only one week.
4. Gov. Tom Vilsack (Iowa) Vilsack is a favorite-son candidate in the Iowa caucus, which is nice because it’s a way for him to get way out in front of the other candidates if he chooses to run. Alternately, if he loses on his home turf, his candidacy will be over very, very quickly. Vilsack also likely gained a lot of support from organizations like the NAACP over his executive order which restored voting rights to all Iowa ex-felons. Prominent black leaders in Iowa came out strongly in favor of the move.
5. US Sen. Russ Feingold (Wisconsin) As with Bill Frist, Feingold might find himself with more mainstream Democrat support if he comes out with a strong and impassioned argument against a Bush Supreme Court nominee - if one is made. If there is no retirement, then Feingold will have to be happy with his left-wing activist base for now.
(6/26/2005)
- By Tim Saler , Red State.org
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