NEW POLL: Clinton, Obama in Statistical Tie in Iowa

Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are in a statistical tie in Iowa among the party's likely caucus-goers, a University of Iowa poll found.

Clinton of New York received 28.9 percent support compared with 26.6 percent for Obama of Illinois. The gap is within the poll's 5.5 percent margin of error for Democrats.

In a similar August poll, former North Carolina Senator John Edwards was backed by 26 percent, a near-tie with Clinton's 24.8 percent. Obama received 19.3 percent support in August. In the latest poll, Edwards garnered 20 percent support.

``After trailing during most of the year, Clinton is now leading with Obama close behind,'' said David Redlawsk, director of the poll, during a news conference in Washington today.

Democrats are facing a tighter race in Iowa than most national polls show. The country's first nominating contest in the presidential race is typically held there. A Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times national poll taken Oct. 19-22 found Clinton with a 31-point lead over Obama, 48 percent to 17 percent. She also ran ahead of all Republicans in general-election matchups.

Among likely Republican caucus-goers, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney increased his lead to 36.2 percent from 27.8 percent in August. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee was backed by 12.8 percent of voters, putting him in a near three-way tie with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who received 13.1 percent, and former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson with 11.4 percent.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=ar9Rki_9H79o&refer=us

Looks like Barack's Pander-Play is working with his target base.

Let the people speak and we see something different. I wonder what Tweedy, the Voice of Washington Insiders, will have to say.

I'm a Clark supporter and don't have a dog in the hunt but if sharing a stage with a hateful bigot perks up one's campaign in a midwest state, I must applaud the strategy.

i just checked 6 major newspapers across iowa and there was on article from the chicago tribune in the quad cities news group. i don`t think the majority over there knows anything about this

There has been nothing on Baraks embrace of a gay hater in the papers I read from Louisiana and Mississippi but I know stuff. I'd be willing to bet that Iowans have access to the internet.

I will write-in General Clark in the insignificant Mississippi Primary and I will proudly vote for the dem nominee for President. If its Obama, I'd like for him to spend a moment to chat with a veteran about civil liberties and the scope of the constitution.

i am going with dennis cause his ideas are the closest to mine and yes i`m voting for who ever gets the nod.

I'm sure hardly any of them heard of this incident and even those who did probably didn't let it affect their vote.
That said, I wouldn't be surprised if it helped him. Not so much because he embraced a gay hater, which I don't think is accurate, but because he didn't cave in to the activists and throw out someone who happened to disagree with him on an issue. That's something that will appeal to independent voters. Also, there won't be much backlash from the gay community in a place like Iowa.

GObama! Thanks for posting. :thumbsup: :kick:

However, Mark Blumenthal cautions readers on the survey's methodology, noting "they asked an open-ended vote question (that asks respondents to volunteer their choice without prompting), they sampled from a directory of listed telephone households (rather than from registered voter lists or via random digit dial or voting list) and used a screen that was wider than other polls."

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2007/10/29/romney_way_ahead_in_iowa_democratic_race_close.html