TiVo time for the political junkies among us: Campaign 2008 begins in earnest this Thursday evening, when the first Democratic debate will take place in Orangeburg, SC. “Thursday’s debate will air live on MSNBC from 7 to 8:30 p.m. and stream live on MSNBC.com.“
And, in related news, a new Rasmussen poll has Obama now tied with Hillary at 32%, with Edwards coming in at third (17%). “Thirty-three percent (33%) of Likely Voters say they’d definitely vote for Illinois Senator Barack Obama (D). That’s the highest total received by any of ten leading Presidential hopefuls included in the poll…Opinions are most solid concerning the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, New York Senator Hillary Clinton — 78% have an opinion of whether they’ll definitely vote for or against her regardless of who she runs against. That includes 30% who would definitely vote for the former First Lady and 48% who would definitely vote against her.“
Hillary inherited a huge lead from her husband. As far back as 2003 (long before any campaigning began) she was around 50% support from Democrats. But since the campaign actually began she’s been seadily losing ground while Obama has been steadily gaining. This is a measure of their relative strength as candidates.
If Hillary had not started with such a huge handicap both Obama and Edwards would already have left her in the dust… but there’s still plenty of time for the cream to rise to the top and now that her inherited lead has evaporated this is now an Edwards Obama race.