On Jan 6, 1:58*pm, DeserTBoB wrote:
The pundits are all mooning and fawning over Obama, but is this just
typical media knee jerking? *On today's Chris Matthews Show, only one
of the panelists had it right...Dan Rather, of all people, who has a
not-too-distant history of getting things hopelessly wrong. *He
cautioned against anyone awarding the nomination to Obama yet simply
by saying, "It's early yet!" *Boy, is he right about that. *The
"Matthews Meter," a collective vote of 12 of his usual guest pundits,
had Obama taking the nomination already, 12-zip! *Oh really!
Uh...guys? *It's a little early for that...Dan's right...for once.
It's also too early to count out Romney, but he's still sinking, while
Hillary at least figured out where the live preserver was.

Live shots of Clinton working the NH town hall meetings today showed
there IS a retooling of her campaign strategy going on...she's no
longer pontificating or having the assured gaze of the heir apparent.
She's taking and answering every question no matter how small
(something McCain's also doing), a technique perfected by Bill in '92,
and is out there connecting, something she did NOT do well in Iowa.
She's also talking about national policy effects on local issues like
small business, important to a state that has lost most of its
industry and survives on the scraps of small business. *Matthews' old
boss, "Da Tipstuh", said it best: *"Awl pahletics iz locuhl." (Bahstun
accent is authentic.) *Meanwhile, Obama continues to say pretty things
about "change," but still isn't addressing issues specificly...which,
if HE doesn't retool, could send HIM into the breakwater before he
puts out to sea on Tsunami Tuesday.

Don't count her out yet, not by a long shot. *However, if she doesn't
scramble her campaign staff soon, she could be headed for the rocks
first. *Mike Murphy, longtime GOP strategist, has it right...she's got
ten days to fix her campaign machine, or she's toast. *The dumbest
thing she's got going right now is that her chief strategist is also
her chief pollster...WRONG! *Look for Clinton staff to be shuffled in
the next week. *If that happens, watch out. *If it doesn't, the
"Matthews Meter" may very well be right, and it'll wind up being a
McCain-Obama bout.

Most damaging still shot of the week: *Hillary giving a "victory
speech" in Iowa after being trampled by Obama and Edwards, with Bill,
Madeliene Albright and the whole cast of Clinton '92 in the
background. *Younger voters don't want to see that...not anymore, at
least. *Old time party regulars like me liked it, but she needs to
start peeling off the kids from Obama.

Most cynical quote of the week: *"Well, you know, Obama gets these
young white chicks in his campaign because they have that "Mandingo"
sexual thing going on...." *--Name withheld to avoid bloodshed.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080107/...ics_poll_col_1

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.

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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.

Obama, an Illinois senator bidding to make history as the first black
U.S. president, gained 11 points on Clinton to lead the one-time
Democratic front-runner 39 percent to 29 percent. Former North
Carolina Sen. John Edwards was third with 19 percent.

"This is a breathtaking movement in Obama's direction," said pollster
John Zogby. "It's a surge for Obama and movement away from Clinton."

He said the rush toward Obama was even more pronounced in the one day
of polling after Saturday's Democratic debate in Manchester, where
Clinton went on the attack against Obama and drew a rebuke from
Edwards.

"It's almost Iowa redux," Zogby said. "In the closing days in Iowa we
saw Clinton losing her strong support among women, liberals and
Democrats, and it's happening again."

He said Obama had a big and growing lead among independents and held
the edge among young voters, moderates and union members.

The rolling poll of 844 likely Democratic voters and 834 likely
Republican voters was taken Friday through Sunday. It has a margin of
error of 3.4 percentage points.

NEXT BATTLEGROUND

New Hampshire's primary on Tuesday is the next battleground in the
state-by-state process of choosing Republican and Democratic
candidates for November's election to replace President George W.
Bush.

The pressure is on Clinton and Romney to revive their campaigns after
disappointing showings in Iowa, and a second consecutive loss for
either could doom their comebacks.

Clinton, the New York senator and former first lady, finished third in
Iowa. Romney, who at one time led polls in Iowa and New Hampshire,
finished second.

McCain sailed past Romney in the new poll to open a five-point lead at
34 percent to 29 percent. Huckabee, a Baptist minister and former
Arkansas governor, dropped back slightly to 10 percent, barely holding
third place over former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani at 9 percent.

"It was a big day for McCain," Zogby said. "He maintains a very big
lead among independents, but his problem is that he won't draw as many
independents as he did in 2000."

McCain won the state's primary that year with help from a surge of
independent support, but eventually lost the Republican nomination to
Bush.

About 6 percent in each party remain undecided, according to the New
Hampshire poll.

In the Democratic race, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson was in
fourth place at 6 percent, ahead of Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich at 2
percent.

In the Republican race, Texas Rep. Ron Paul was at 6 percent. Former
Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson was at 3 percent and California Rep.
Duncan Hunter was at 1 percent.

The rolling tracking poll will continue one more day until New
Hampshire's vote on Tuesday. 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.