New L.A. Times/Bloomberg poll upcoming
A new L.A. Times/Bloomberg poll will not calm what a recent Politico.com story referred to as "jitters" among some supporters of Barack Obama.
The exact numbers are not quite ready for release; for that, you can check The Times' website later today and Wednesday's print edition. But in line with other national surveys of Democratic-leaning voters, our poll not only finds Hillary Clinton close to lapping the field but Obama being challenged by John Edwards for second place.
Obama's advisors continue to scoff at the importance of national polls, stressing that the face-off in Iowa -- which starts the nominating process -- remains much more competitive, and that the results there could instantly remake the contest. Still, a close look at the demographic breakdown in the new poll contains only bad news for Obama. In categories in which our survey in June found Obama holding his own -- younger voters, better-educated ones, those with higher incomes -- Clinton has pulled significantly ahead.
In the Republican race, the poll shows Rudy Giuliani with a comfortable -- but far from commanding -- lead. In his favor: None of his rivals has established a clear hold on second place; support is scattered among Fred Thompson, John McCain and Mitt Romney, with Mike Huckabee also showing some movement. But Giuliani's number has edged only slightly upward since June, raising questions about how much he can expand his backing within the party.
The results underscore some of the enduring mysteries of the GOP race. Despite a record that is pro-choice, pro-gay rights and pro-gun control, Giuliani runs ahead among Republican-leaning voters who describe themselves as conservatives. And Romney, despite a solid lead in polls in Iowa, has made no progress catching fire nationwide.
-- Don Frederick
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the 
Subscribe to this Blog
John Edwards is fighting for ALL races and genders in all 50 states!!
WooHoo! Go Edwards!
Posted by: annefrank | October 23, 2007 at 04:19 PM
This is old stuff. Obama is now taking the lead from Hillary. The more you know him, the more you want to vote for him. The opposite is true for Hillary!
Posted by: Bass | December 17, 2007 at 11:04 PM
To reiterate what Bass said for anyone else who just stumbled over here, this article is from two months ago. Right now Obama is at +3.5 in Iowa.
Why are all of these articles from October floating to the top of google news all of a sudden?
Posted by: John M. | December 18, 2007 at 12:29 AM
Something strange going on with the L.A. Times. Yet another
article written in October that is posted as news.
This one by
Don Frederick
October 23, 2007
*********************************************************************
Jittery donors want Obama to step it up
By: Ben Smith
Oct 19, 2007 06:51 PM EST
Updated: October 20, 2007 12:16 PM EST
(Don't think the strangeness is at our blog. We can't control what Google's search engines grab. But at least it brought you to the site and you go to the top for the more recent poll and political news. Thanks for reading.)
Posted by: Mr. Unite Us | December 18, 2007 at 07:20 AM
Have you guys ever said something positive about Obama?
Not even Fox's been that low and that propagandist.
Thank God nobody reads the LA times unless it's posted on Google.
Posted by: Bob Carmichael | December 18, 2007 at 09:11 AM