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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hope Praytochange who wrote (13385)	8/16/2007 10:08:31 PM
From: Ann Corrigan	Respond to of 224749

Electability is the name of the game >Yepsen: 2008 phrase could be 'It's the electability, stupid' By DAVID YEPSEN REGISTER POLITICAL COLUMNIST August 16, 2007 The 2008 race for president in Iowa and around the country is evolving. In both parties, issues of electability are motivating many activists. Rudy Giuliani continues to lead the GOP race, which is surprising to many who thought he would fade as socially conservative voters became aware of his pro-choice positions. But with conservatives continuing to split their votes among several candidates, Giuliani has maintained his lead in polls. It is also true that we media types may be placing too much focus on the importance of social issues. That may be reporting the last war. After 9/11 and the conflict in Iraq, those questions move more voters than someone's pro-life credentials. In Iowa, for example, 40 percent of likely GOP caucus-goers said in an Iowa Poll that terrorism was an "extremely important" issue, and 38 percent said "national security" was. Only 20 percent said abortion was extremely important to them. Giuliani has credibility on terrorism and security, thanks to his handling of 9/11, and Republicans looking for a winner are looking beyond his abortion stance. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton continues to improve her national and Iowa standings. A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday shows Clinton leading Giuliani 46 percent to 43 percent, up two points since May. No other Democrat does as well as Clinton against the leading GOP candidates. The survey of 1,545 American voters has a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points. It also shows Clinton has improved her image with voters. But the bad news for her is that her negative ratings remain higher than any other candidate in the race. Forty-eight percent of American voters have a favorable opinion of Clinton, and 43 percent are unfavorable. Those concerns are keeping many Democratic activists from signing on. As - and if - she eases those concerns, she can continue to move up. Further evidence that electability is an important issue to caucus-goers comes from an Iowa Poll of likely Democratic caucus-goers taken just before the 2004 caucuses. When asked what was more important in picking a candidate - upholding core party principles or finding a candidate who can appeal to a broad range of voters around the country - only 32 percent said core principles, while 59 percent said broad appeal. Smart candidates should be telling activists in Iowa why they're the one best able to carry states such as Ohio.<