PollMulling: The Saint Anselm College Institute of Politics just released its Primary Poll among likely voters here in primary land and uncovered no major polling surprises. On the Dem side, The Hillary Clinton polling juggernaught remained strong as she leads Barack Obama by a 43-22 margin (with John Edwards at 14 percent). On the GOP side, Mitt Romney leads Rudy Giuliani 32-22 (with John McCain at 15 percent). The most interesting polling nuggets are on the GOP side. Internet/Libertarian favorite Ron Paul is at 7 percent, ahead of Mike Huckabee (6 percent) and Fred Thompson (5 percent). While deciphering poll numbers is always a risky proposition at best (more blind luck than science), what is revealing is that Paul is gaining serious name recognition while having not spent much time in the state (a sign of his loyal and growing following) while Thompson is dropping fast while having not spent hardly any time in the state (a sign of indifference).
One interesting finding is that among the undeclared (independent) voters, most are leaning Democrat by a 41 to 19 percent margin while 40 percent are still making up their minds. That's not a good trend for John McCain who used independent support in 2000 to catapult to victory in New Hampshire. But then again, he's on the wrong side of the Iraq war issue in this state among independents. But if this poll does anything it shows "there is still indecisiveness among likely voters in New Hampshire,” said NHIOP senior fellow Michael Dupre. In other words, we don't know much.
Next time you see GOPer Rudy Giuliani on the campaign trail here in first-in-the-galaxy primary land you might want to ask him 'Hey Rudy, how's World War IV going?' I kid you not. In my daily link, there's a Halloween-type reminder that Giuliani may really mean what he says about staying on the offensive against, well, the Islamofascist hordes which could include just about eveybody in the Middle East and the Islamic world. And if you listen to neocon nutcase Norman Podhertz, who just happens to have Rudy's ear as a top foreign policy advisor (a truly scary thought), he recently gave Mr. 9/11 a briefing on his thoughts about World War IV (the title of a new Podhertz book). In an interview with the New York Observer the excitable Podhertz laid out a Mafia-type agenda that will keep Rudy and the country busy on the military front for decades. America should be working to overthrow governments in Saudi Arabia, Syria and Egypt and “every one of the despotic regimes in that region, by force if necessary and by nonmilitary means if possible,” he said. “They are fronts of the war. You can’t do everything at once. And to have toppled two of those regimes in five years or six years is I think a major achievement. And maybe George Bush won’t be able to carry it further, but I think he will. It may have just been given to him to start act one of the five-act play.”
Maybe in this play, Rudy sees himself as a Shakespearean military maven. It's no wonder that more and voters in New Hampshire have become increasingly distressed about war with Iran. The inmates are running the asylum.
ADVERTISEMENTS 
