AP poll: GOP voters pick "None of the Above"

[racaulk]

And the leading Republican presidential candidate is...none of the above.

The latest Associated Press–Ipsos poll found that nearly a quarter of Republicans are unwilling to back top-tier hopefuls Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, John McCain, or Mitt Romney, and no one candidate has emerged as the clear front-runner among Christian evangelicals. Such dissatisfaction underscores the volatility of the 2008 GOP nomination fight.

In sharp contrast, the Democratic race remains static, with Hillary Rodham Clinton holding a sizable lead over Barack Obama. The New York senator, who is white, also outpaces her Illinois counterpart, who is black, among black and Hispanic Democrats, according to a combined sample of two months of polls.

A half year before voting begins, the survey shows the White House race is far more wide open on the Republican side than on the Democratic. The uneven enthusiasm about the fields also is reflected in fund-raising in which Democrats outraised Republicans $80 million to $50 million from April through June, continuing a trend from the year's first three months.

''Democrats are reasonably comfortable with the range of choices. The Democratic attitude is that three or four of these guys would be fine,'' David Redlawsk, a University of Iowa political scientist. ''The Republicans don't have that; particularly among the conservatives there's a real split. They just don't see candidates who reflect their interests and who they also view as viable.''

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Link: http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid47494.asp

[saltpoint]

1. I'm not hogwild about former Missouri Senator John Danforth.

But the Republican Party's most grievous problem is that someone like John Danforth could not win nomination owing to the howling nutbags who have infiltrated the GOP base.

Danforth would be much more demographically difficult to whip in a general election than the pack of incompetent, corrupt, and unstable candidates currently in the race.

Think of that. A political party whose electoral survival is threatened because its base demands narrow and pathetic nominees.

Then look again at our Democratic field.

I'm votin' blue, folks.