Obama stretches Iowa lead in new poll

Nes Moines, NU Online
Barack Obama leads Hillary Clinton in Iowa by seven points among Democrats, according to a new poll, a nervy two days before the state opens the 2008 White House nominating stakes.

The Des Moines Register newspaper poll of people likely to attend caucuses on Thursday, put Obama on 32 percent, with the former first lady on 25 percent, a point ahead of former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards.<>

The poll is highly respected in the state, which is notoriously difficult to survey and where voters traditionally make up their minds late.

The Clinton campaign however immediately rejected the Register’s methodology saying it overstated the likely role of independent voters in the caucuses, and said the poll conflicted with other recent surveys.

Among Republicans, the paper had former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee holding his lead on 32 percent over the ex-governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney on 26 percent.

Arizona Senator John McCain, expected to make his first major stand of the 2008 race in the New Hanpshire primary on January 8, was third in the Republican field on 13 percent.

The poll came out as candidates made last-ditch forays across the state, ahead of the caucuses, which open a month-long blizzard of nominating contests which could produce presidential nominees by early February.

The Washington Post meanwhile reported that Clinton and Obama had both raised a stunning 100 million dollars each to finance their campaigns in 2007, the first time two hopefuls hit the threshold before any votes are cast.

Clinton, husband Bill and daughter Chelsea, rang in a new year they hope will end with them packing bags for a return trip to the White House, with a late-night rally in state capital Des Moines.

“We have got two full days until Thursday comes and then Iowans are going to pick the next president,” the former first lady told cheering supporters.

“I, with your help, am going to run a winning campaign in 2008 and take back the White House.” Edwards, who earlier polls suggested may be putting on a spurt just three days from the caucuses, told voters they could choose to give America a new future starting in 2008.

“Let’s resolve, tonight to make this the year that we stood up, took on the corporate greed that has taken over our government, and fought for the better America our children deserve,” the former senator said.

Clinton mocked Edwards’s rising anger on the stump.
Taking on corporate domination of politics was not “something you have to do by yelling and screaming. Save your energy. Get the job done,” she said.

Senator Obama, vying to be America’s first black president, also jabbed Edwards, the defeated vice-presidential nominee in 2004, saying he had not shown his fury for change during his single Senate term.

The Register, in its last poll before the caucuses, said Obama’s lead in the hotly contested caucuses had been built on a huge influx of first-time caucus goers, and previously independent voters.

Obama’s tally was up four points on his spot in the last Register poll in late November, while Edwards and Clinton were virtually unchanged.

Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who shot into the lead in Iowa polls in the last two months, showed new signs of frailty in an earlier press conference called to showcase a new negative advertisement.

Despite saying he would pull the spot, he started to show it to reporters anyway, but then gremlins set in to prevent the airing as reporters chortled and Huckabee looked on red-faced.

Romney’s camp said the incident raised questions about Huckabee’s sincerity.

Campaign teams meanwhile cranked up huge voter turnout drives, using email, networking sites like Facebook, telephone calls and old fashioned door knocking to cajole voters, which analysts say will be crucial to Thursday result. (afp/dar)