Poll Watch
Obama dips but still has big South Carolina lead
01.24.08 -- 1:04 PM
Democrat Barack Obama's big lead over rival Hillary Clinton has slipped but is still substantial two days before the presidential primary election in South Carolina, where candidates were competing vigorously to win support from black voters.
Former President Bill Clinton, whose wife is battling with challenger John Edwards to stay out of third place in South Carolina, lashed out at Obama and the media for elevating race in the campaign.
Obama's lead fell 3 points overnight to give him a 39 percent to 24 percent edge over Clinton in South Carolina, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Thursday.
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Clinton Holds Narrow Nevada Lead on Obama
01.18.08 -- 7:26 AM
Democrat Hillary Clinton holds a narrow 5-point lead on rival Barack Obama in Nevada on the eve of the state's presidential nominating contest, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Friday.
Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, led Obama, an Illinois senator, by 42 percent to 37 percent in the rolling tracking poll. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards was a distant third with 12 percent.
In South Carolina, where Republicans vote on Saturday, Arizona Sen. John McCain maintained a steady 7-point edge on former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, 29 percent to 22 percent, although rival and Mitt Romney gained three points overnight to climb into third place at 15 percent.
Both polls had a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
Nevada and South Carolina are the next battlegrounds in the race to choose candidates for November's election to succeed President George W. Bush, with the winners in each state hoping to pick up some momentum as the calendar accelerates to February 5 contests in 22 states.
So far, no candidate in either party has been able to build up any real steam in a chaotic race that has seen five winners in the first five major state contests.
Obama and Clinton split the first two Democratic battles and have been running close in polls in Nevada, where turnout is uncertain. Nevada's Democratic nominating contest in 2004 drew just 9,000 participants, and no one is sure how many will turn out this time.
"This is a very competitive race, but it will depend on organization," pollster John Zogby said. "This is a caucus without much history to go on, so we have to see who can do the best job of turning out their vote."
The poll showed Clinton, who would be the first woman U.S. president, led Obama among women, whites, Hispanics, conservatives, older voters and among voters in union households. Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, led easily among blacks and younger voters.
CASINO VOTING
The two Democrats have clashed in the past week over a plan to allow voting in casino hotels on the Las Vegas Strip, approved by a federal judge on Thursday, and over Clinton's comments on race that were seen by some as a slight on civil rights leader Martin Luther King.
Republicans also hold a contest in Nevada on Saturday in a race that has drawn less attention from the media and candidates. The Republican race in Nevada was not polled by Zogby.
The Republican presidential contenders have focused on South Carolina, the first primary in the South. McCain, an Arizona senator who won New Hampshire, hopes to rebound from his loss in Michigan on Tuesday.
McCain finished second there to Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who promised to revive the state's ailing manufacturing base. Romney's overnight rise was the first sign of a bounce from his Michigan win, Zogby said.
"There is some movement afoot," he said. In the most recent day of polling, Romney had reached 19 percent, he said.
Huckabee, a Baptist minister who won Iowa and is hoping to make inroads with the state's big bloc of evangelical voters, still led among "born-again" voters and those who say they are "very" conservative.
But McCain held a clear edge among independents, Republicans, Democrats, liberals, moderates and older voters.
Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson was fourth with 13 percent, Texas Rep. Ron Paul was at 4 percent and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, still waiting to make his first foray into the race on January 29 in Florida, was at 2 percent.
About 9 percent of Republican voters were unsure who they would support, with about 5 percent of Democrats uncertain.
The rolling tracking polls of 815 likely Republican voters in South Carolina and 814 likely Democratic voters in Nevada were taken Tuesday through Thursday and will continue one more day.
In a rolling poll, the most recent day's results are added while the oldest day's results are dropped in order to track changing momentum.
(Editing by Todd Eastham)
(For more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)
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McCain and Romney in tight Michigan race
01.14.08 -- 7:58 AM
DETROIT (Reuters) - Republican White House hopefuls John McCain and Mitt Romney are in a very close race in Michigan, three days before state voters decide their pick for the party's presidential nomination, according to two new polls released on Saturday.
The Detroit News/WXYZ Action News statewide survey showed McCain, a senator from Arizona who won the New Hampshire primary earlier this week, at 27 percent and Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, at 26 percent. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has become popular among religious conservatives, polled 19 percent.
But a second poll, conducted by the Detroit Free Press-Local 4, found Romney ahead with 27 percent versus 22 percent for McCain. Huckabee was again third with 16 percent support.
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Obama rockets past Clinton in New Hampshire
01.07.08 -- 9:11 AM
MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama rocketed to a 10-point lead over Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire one day before their showdown in the state's presidential primary, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Monday.
Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona also began to pull away from rival Mitt Romney, opening a five-point lead on the Massachusetts governor as what had been tight races in both parties began to open up.
This is the first of the rolling New Hampshire polls taken entirely after last week's caucuses in Iowa, where Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee scored breakthrough wins that left Clinton and Romney reeling.
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Iowa: Obama and Clinton tied in Iowa; Edwards close
01.02.08 -- 7:38 AM
Democrat Barack Obama pulled even with Hillary Clinton in Iowa, with John Edwards close behind, in a tightening three-way race one day before the first presidential nominating contest, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
Obama gained two points overnight and Clinton lost two points to deadlock at 28 percent among Democrats in Iowa, with Edwards in a statistical dead heat behind them at 26 percent. No other Democrat registered in double digits.
The Republican race in Iowa also tightened, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's lead over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney sliced to two points, 28 percent to 26 percent.
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New Poll Shows Tight Races in N.H., McCain Catches up With Romney
01.02.08 -- 7:14 AM
THE RACE: The presidential race for Democrats, Republicans in New Hampshire.
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THE NUMBERS - DEMOCRATS
Hillary Rodham Clinton, 34 percent
Barack Obama, 30 percent
John Edwards, 17 percent
Bill Richardson, 5 percent
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THE NUMBERS - REPUBLICANS
Mitt Romney, 29 percent
John McCain, 29 percent
Rudy Giuliani, 12 percent
Mike Huckabee, 10 percent
Ron Paul, 7 percent
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Voters Still Sampling Candidates
12.27.07 -- 10:14 AM
Dig beneath the surface of the raucous Republican presidential race and you will find even deeper turmoil: Four in 10 GOP voters have switched candidates in the past month alone, and nearly two-thirds say they may change their minds again.
Mike Huckabee, who has roared to a tie with longtime front-runner Rudy Giuliani, has little reason to feel safe, according to an ongoing national survey conducted for The Associated Press and Yahoo News.
Half of all voters - including four in 10 Republicans - know too little about Huckabee to even say whether they have a favorable impression of him, let alone whether he is conservative, liberal or moderate. That could be ominous, because it gives his rivals the opportunity to define him. Witness Mitt Romney's criticism of the former Arkansas governor on immigration and Fred Thompson's contention that he raised taxes "like a Democrat."
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Clinton, Huckabee Ahead in Oklahoma Poll
12.26.07 -- 5:50 PM
THE RACE: The presidential race for Republicans, Democrats in Oklahoma, which holds its presidential primary on Feb. 5.
THE NUMBERS - DEMOCRATS
Hillary Rodham Clinton, 34 percent
John Edwards, 25 percent
Barack Obama, 15 percent
Don't know/refused, 20 percent
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THE NUMBERS - REPUBLICANS
Mike Huckabee, 29 percent
John McCain, 17 percent
Rudy Giuliani, 11 percent
Mitt Romney, 9 percent
Fred Thompson, 8 percent
Don't know/refused 22 percent
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Obama Says He's Ready for White House
12.16.07 -- 7:19 PM
Democrat Barack Obama Saturday scoffed at suggestions by President Clinton that the Illinois senator is not ready to be president, and that Obama is running strong in Iowa in part because his home state and Iowa share a border.
''When I was 20 points down, they all thought I was a wonderful guy. Obviously things have changed here in Iowa and elsewhere,'' Obama said at a press conference Saturday. ''If they're suggesting that I, as this 'callow youth,' somehow had a structural advantage in Iowa relative to the Clinton operation and the former president of the United States, that doesn't strike me as a real plausible argument.''
Obama was touring north central Iowa on the second day of a a five-day bus tour across the icy state. He made campaign stops in five cities on Saturday alone and was expected to keep up a similar clip throughout the rest of the tour.
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The woman who wants to take Kucinich's Congressional seat
11.23.07 -- 8:50 AM
It took Rosemary Palmer extended stays in New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and China to realize that, as the saying goes, all politics is local.
The Wooster-born 60-year-old, who also was a Chronicle-Telegram writer in the 1970s, returned home from her travels and is now running against Dennis Kucinich for the Democratic nomination for the 10th Congressional District of Ohio — her first major foray into politics.
The 10th District encompasses western Cuyahoga County, including Bay Village, Fairview Park, North Olmsted, Olmsted Falls, Olmsted Township, Strongsville, Westlake and several other cities.
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