McCain Ties Giuliani Nationwide, Equals Romney in New Hampshire

[kinggovernor]

Jan. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain has erased Mitt Romney's lead in New Hampshire and increased his support nationwide, challenging Rudy Giuliani's status as the party's front-runner, two new polls said.

McCain, an Arizona senator, and Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, each received 29 percent support among New Hampshire's likely voters for the state's Jan. 8 primary, according to a CNN/WMUR poll. McCain trailed Romney 18 percent to 33 percent in a survey last month. The latest poll, conducted Dec. 27-30, showed former New York City Mayor Giuliani with 12 percent support, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee with 10 percent and Texas Representative Ron Paul with 7 percent.

In a separate nationwide survey, McCain had 22 percent support over Giuliani's 20 percent, Huckabee's 17 percent and Romney's 12 percent, according to the Pew Research Center. The lead, among Republican voters, is within the poll's 5 percentage- point margin of error.

If McCain can win in New Hampshire, ``he's clearly a formidable candidate, he always has been,'' said Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University in New Jersey.

Huckabee's rise to power in Iowa has undermined Romney, Zelizer said.

``Because Huckabee's not a natural for the Republican candidacy, I think some eyes are turning back to McCain, where they originally started,'' Zelizer said in a telephone interview. ``People know him, so he has the ability, I think, to move back into contention very quickly.''

McCain Targets New Hampshire

Giuliani previously led the field with 26 percent support nationwide in a similar Pew poll last month. McCain had 19 percent, while Romney and former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson each had 13 percent.

Earlier in the year, Giuliani ``was just the name that people knew more than most of the other candidates,'' Michael Dimock, associate director for research at the Pew Center, said in a telephone interview.

McCain, 71, who won the New Hampshire primary in his 2000 race against George W. Bush, has focused his efforts on that state over the Iowa caucuses to be held tomorrow.

Giuliani, 63, is betting that Florida, where voters have already begun voting by mail for their Jan. 29 primary, will give him momentum before Feb. 5, when some two dozen states hold their contests.

New York Senator Hillary Clinton got the support of 34 percent of New Hampshire's Democratic voters compared with 30 percent for Illinois Senator Barack Obama and 17 percent for former North Carolina Senator John Edwards, the CNN/WMUR poll found.

Definitely Decided

Thirty-three percent of New Hampshire's Republican voters say they have definitely decided who they'll vote for, 29 percent are leaning toward someone, and 38 percent are undecided, the poll said. For Democratic voters, 41 percent say they have definitely decided, 27 percent are leaning toward someone and 32 percent are still trying to decide.

Clinton increased her lead nationwide, according to the Pew Center poll conducted Dec. 19-30, with 46 percent support over Obama's 26 percent and Edwards's 14 percent.

The Pew Center's telephone phone, directed by Princeton Survey Research Associates, included 471 Republican voters and 556 Democratic voters. The margin of error for both is plus or minus 5 percentage points.

The CNN/WMUR telephone poll, conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, included 439 people who say they plan to vote in the state's Republican presidential primary and 521 in the Democratic primary. The error margin for both Republican and Democratic polls is plus or minus 5 percentage points.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nadine Elsibai in Washington at nelsibai@bloomberg.net .

Last Updated: January 2, 2008 15:16 EST

Here is hoping that Huckabee takes Iowa, and then McCain takes N.H. This will propel McCain to the top and leave Romney and Mr. 9/11 behind.

[Linzyhop]

here here! i think McCain has some definite possibility!

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by Linzyhop

here here! i think McCain has some definite possibility!

Nothing like now for Momentum.......................

[kinggovernor]

Originally Posted by Linzyhop

here here! i think McCain has some definite possibility!

never give up hope, never surrender. The MSM has declared him dead on an almost weekly basis but he was just warming up.

[David Octavius]

Haven't heard much from McCain - if he got himself out of the BS he was about the past couple years and became the principled McCain of 2000 then he has my vote come the General election!

[motivez]

Originally Posted by David Octavius

Haven't heard much from McCain - if he got himself out of the BS he was about the past couple years and became the principled McCain of 2000 then he has my vote come the General election!

Really? Wouldn't bother you that he flip flopped on every important and issue and principle he stood for in order to get the nomination?

That says a lot about his lack of integrity IMO.

[Linzyhop]

Originally Posted by motivez

Really? Wouldn't bother you that he flip flopped on every important and issue and principle he stood for in order to get the nomination?

That says a lot about his lack of integrity IMO.

so hasn't much of the people running.

Romney is WAY more of a flip flopper than McCain ever was. and just the way Guiliani talks is enough for me not to vote for him. there's your big three... Huckabee might have won Xtian Iowa but he's not getting NH, that's for sure.

[motivez]

Yeah, but the people I see who support McCain still talk about his integrity and character and whatnot.. it's a huge joke, since he has no integrity left after becoming a panderer, and it's shown that he has as big of a character flaw as some of the other people running in caring more about winning than principles he finds important

[Linzyhop]

Originally Posted by motivez

Yeah, but the people I see who support McCain still talk about his integrity and character and whatnot.. it's a huge joke, since he has no integrity left after becoming a panderer, and it's shown that he has as big of a character flaw as some of the other people running in caring more about winning than principles he finds important

totally disagree.

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by motivez

Yeah, but the people I see who support McCain still talk about his integrity and character and whatnot.. it's a huge joke, since he has no integrity left after becoming a panderer, and it's shown that he has as big of a character flaw as some of the other people running in caring more about winning than principles he finds important

Nobody makes the mistake of talking about Hillary or John Edwards Integrity or Character!

So tell me what makes McCain such a panderer?

[Darko]

Yay let's have McCain win so we can be in Iraq for another 100 years. (his own words) I used to like McCain but he has turned into a Bush lapdog.

[motivez]

Originally Posted by Linzyhop

totally disagree.

Feel free to point out specifics on why you disagree

Anyone who's followed him since the 2000 campaign can see he's done a 180 on pretty much every core principle he stood for to pander to the neocon base in order to have another shot at the nomination

It's pathetic really. People want to say he has integrity or character or whatever because he was a pow.. well, while I salute his service, he doesn't get a free pass for BS that other candidates would be called on.

And people call other candidates on shit when they switch positions, that's one of the reasons Romney's campaign is faltering, because he's seen as well financed but ultimately empty candidate who switched his positions on everything..

What's laughable is that McCain has criticized him for it

[motivez]

Originally Posted by RMNIXON

Nobody makes the mistake of talking about Hillary or John Edwards Integrity or Character!

So tell me what makes McCain such a panderer?

Actually I'm pretty sure lots of people have attacked Edwards for his profession, and people talk about Hillary being a panderer as well, taking positions based on polls instead of her beliefs

He's a panderer because instead of continuing bucking the establishment like he did in 2000, speaking harsh truths about where the party was going (this marriage between the neocon hawks and the evangelicals).. he's completely embraced it to get a shot at the nomination

I don't see how anyone can take him seriously, no one has that many position shifts on core principles in a few years.. it's blatantly obvious that he's switched his positions because in order to have a real shot at the nomination, he'll have to embrace the powers that be

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by motivez

He's a panderer because instead of continuing bucking the establishment like he did in 2000, speaking harsh truths about where the party was going (this marriage between the neocon hawks and the evangelicals).. he's completely embraced it to get a shot at the nomination

Try not being so general Motivez. I can't deal with all your specifics of McCain and how he has changed his positions on anything! All this pandering! You call him a Neocon Hawk and I should lay down and cry or something?

What the Democrats fear is that John McCain is John McCain. The major beef with Republicans (yes those people whos opinion matters in a Republican Primary and not yours) are concerned with illegal immigration. If he does get momentum it will be a hard pill to swallow. I don't see how he has changed on that issue one bit. But nothing like Hillary who is 100% certain to make a deal with the Ted Kennedy bunch we won't like. Those liberals who cried about the requirements for illegals to get Amnesty! They did not go away even if your big three candidates won't even talk about the issue.


My Big Tuesday Vote is not yet cast. But McCain is looking better to me by the minute. Thanks to Motivez!

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by Darko

Yay let's have McCain win so we can be in Iraq for another 100 years. (his own words) I used to like McCain but he has turned into a Bush lapdog.

Why not post 1,000 years?

[motivez]

I didn't know my opinion was so important as to sway your choice of candidate, Nixon

Feel free to vote for him, and since you're interested in people who've switched positions on important issues in order to pander to a group of people they think will help them secure the nomination, I also feel obligated to mention to you that Mitt Romney is someone you should also seriously consider, since both he and McCain share this trait.

"What's wrong with sucking up to everybody?" -- Senator John McCain, formerly of the "Straight Talk Express"

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by motivez

I didn't know my opinion was so important as to sway your choice of candidate, Nixon

Feel free to vote for him, and since you're interested in people who've switched positions on important issues in order to pander to a group of people they think will help them secure the nomination, I also feel obligated to mention to you that Mitt Romney is someone you should also seriously consider, since both he and McCain share this trait.

"What's wrong with sucking up to everybody?" -- Senator John McCain, formerly of the "Straight Talk Express"

I ask again. Show me his switched positions?

I don't know who I will vote for just yet so you can help me if you got something of substance? Smartass remarks taken out of context don't cut it. It was McCain's honest humor as usual and he even said before your quote "I'm probably gonna get in trouble...."



Online Video: McCain: What's Wrong with Sucking Up to Everyone | Veoh Video Network

[motivez]

He's switched his stance on abortion, ethanol (Hi Iowa, I <3 corn!1!), overturning roe v wade, tax cuts.. it's all changed because he's running for election again and has to pander to "the base"

If I were a Republican I'd be very weary of McCain.. will he stick with his new pander attitude if elected, or will he go back to being what a lot of people considered a maverick and buck the party establishment? There was even talk about him switching parties or running with Kerry. I mean, how conservative can the guy REALLY be at heart?

If you want a specific quote:

1999:

"Certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force x number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations,"

2007, after seeing his position didn't net him votes with the coalition of "christian values voters" that elected Bush:

"I do not support Roe v. Wade. It should be overturned."

The other information you can look up on your own if you're really interested in seeing the shift that's taken place to appease these people he used to (rightly) rail against for their bullshit.

He's doing and saying whatever he has to in order to get elected instead of sticking by his guns.

Yes, like most of the field, but you don't see people talking about the honesty and integrity of most of the field.. you still do for McCain, and it's only because people haven't really paid attention to the massive switches he's made like they did with Kerry, or are starting to with Romney.