Among approximately 330 Republicans and Republican leaners, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani edges out Sen. John McCain (20% to 16%) in a national primary; former Sen. Fred Thompson trails at 15%.
Kind of a small sample size, if you ask me.
Also, I note this release from the DNC:
A Rasmussen poll last week showed that, despite beginning the campaign as “the presumed frontrunner,” McCain is now struggling for third place with Mitt Romney nationally, while trailing Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thomspon. McCain has the support of just 11 percent of Republican primary voters, down from 22 percent in January. Worst still, while the Rasmussen poll shows just 48 percent of American voters have a favorable opinion of McCain, the latest Los Angeles Times-Bloomberg poll found that 22 percent of Republican voters say they would not vote for him “under any circumstances.” [Rasmussen Reports, 6/15/07; Washington Times, 6/13/07; New York Times, 6/18/07]
“By trying to have it both ways on everything from campaign finance reform to immigration, John McCain has alienated both the moderate and conservative voters he needs to remain electable,” said Democratic National Committee spokesman Luis Miranda. “With staff bolting and donors leaking his dismal fundraising numbers, the only question now is: how long until McCain’s Double Talk Express runs out of gas?”
Must the DNC (and the RNC, for that matter) commence whacking each others’ candidates? Can’t they wait until somebody actually gets nominated? When Democrat Gray Davis ran attack ads in the 2002 Republican gubernatorial primary, I thought it was opening a bad door; tradition was, Republicans picked their own nominee, and Democrats picked theirs. Looks like those days are gone.