Poll Average on RealClearPolitics shows Clinton back up in Iowa...

Poll Date Sample Obama Clinton Edwards Richardson Biden Spread
RCP Average 12/13 - 12/19 - 28.3 28.3 23.2 6.8 5.0 Tie
American Res. Group 12/16 - 12/19 600 LV 25 29 18 7 8 Clinton +4.0
Strategic Vision (R) 12/16 - 12/18 600 LV 30 27 27 3 5 Obama +3.0
CNN 12/14 - 12/18 543 LV 28 30 26 7 3 Clinton +2.0
Rasmussen 12/17 - 12/17 775 LV 27 31 22 9 5 Clinton +4.0
InsiderAdvantage 12/16 - 12/17 633 HLV 27 24 26 -- -- Obama +1.0
ABC/Wash Post 12/13 - 12/17 652 LV 33 29 20 8 4 Obama +4.0
See All Iowa Democratic Caucus Polling Data

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/ia/iowa_democratic_caucus-208.html

They get together every week and decide to answer the polls another way...

Next Week: Adlai Stevenson!

It's been a close race for weeks, with no clear leader. It still is. Either Obama or Clinton fans getting excited over swings which were in almost all cases within MOE (and remember that's at a 95% confidence - chances exist for an outside MOE result or two even with the same "real" population data) remains nothing more than subjective sound and fury. We have no clue who will win, especially when the small fry drop oput after the first round when they don't make 15%. None of the polls have said anything else. They still don't.

All we can do is guess. My guess is HRC's machine and long-term reputation slightly edge out Obama's better charisma and rookie fervor of his supporters, but it's a guess just like anyone else's and being wrong would neither worry nor surprise me.

Momentum...

I'm concentrating on IA for now - as everyone has said many times national polls don't mean much. If you win 80% of CA and NY's vote you can take a substantial jump in national polls and still only win 1/3 of the delegates you need.

Sure there is some subjective warm and fuzzies to be had for HRC fans who see many of the polls drift a few points her way after the reverse happened a couple weeks ago, but in the hard data it doesn't mean an awful lot, even in IA polls. We still have two - or three in some cases - candidates who are well within MOE, and we have no clue how that will shake out. I'd dearly like to see breakdowns of second choices in IA focusing on ONLY Biden, Dodd, Richardson, Kucinich and Gravel supporters because if they break collectively one way over the others we might be able to start getting a clearer picture on who might have an edge (Edwrds has been touted as having an edge in 2nd choices but a) he has some ground to make up anyway and b)it doesn't help him if he's the second choice of all the Obama fans and Hillary is the second choice of most of the second tier. Edwards won't see those second choices until Obama is eliminated, which ain't likely to happen). I haven't been able to find such a detailed breakdown so right now I'm guessing on a three way pretty much even odds race, and HRC being up or down a couple of points doesn't make me change that opinion one way or another - it's meaningless where it matters. Same when Obama was ahead of course - I have no clear favorite between the two.

celebrity is also a big part of Clinton's persona.

However, Oprah = celebrity. Bill and Hillary Clinton = life long public service.

In other words, they are well known for something more important than a tv show and just being very wealthy.

And then post it here?

Seriously. Just the name of their website leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I can almost hear Ann Coulter saying, "This is really clear, people, to anyone but the Liberals."

like using Investor's Daily or other right wing sites that I see here all the time.

posters use it only for that purpose.

The poll has a right wing slant but the host does a great job of presenting (all) the polls as soon as they are (released)...

They have something called an "Opinion BuzzTracker" dead center of the site... it links to Fox News.
Reader Articles: Most recent articles with 10 or more votes:

More Damning Presidential Records Hidden by the Clintons, 19 votes
The Low Wattage of the Liberal Mindset, 17 votes
Huckabee's High Wire Act, 25 votes
Hillary Does the Entire Talk Show Gamut in an Attempt to Save Her Failing Candidacy, 21 votes
Surprise for Romney, GOP Rep. Steve King Endorses Thompson, 17 votes
All I Want For Christmas is Fred Thompson, 14 votes
Sen. Lieberman to Endorse McCain, 15 votes
Is There a War On Christmas, 10 votes
Bubba Misfires, Hillary Does a Flyover, Obama Gloats, 14 votes
Fred Thompson Apologizes to Mike Huckabee, 10 votes

You get the idea. I see absolutely no articles with 10 or more votes saying anything positive about any Progressive candidate (Obama Gloats is not exactly positive), in fact nothing about any of the other Dem candidates at all.

Also, Most Read in the last 7 days:

Does Gore Know What He's Talking About
Clinton's Difficulties Deeper Than Strategy
Plan B for Pelosi and Reid

Last 24 hours:

GOP: McCain Surges to Within 7;
A George Will article;
a Krauthammer article; and
"Why did Clinton Overlook Obama?"

Now click on "U.S." right now. You'll notice pictures of Tancredo, Giuliani (twice), Schwarzenegger, Bush (twice). One of Obama with Oprah under "Time's top 50 lists". One of Gore entitled "Thus Far I Have Failed."

I'm sorry, but the overall impression I get is NOT that of an unbiased, even playing field site and therefore any information including polling information that is put out on the site is SUSPECT in my opinion. I feel that this site is a wolf in sheep's clothing, a Right Wing site trying to pretend that it is "Fair and Balanced" and thus sway people who may be on the fence.

and Real Clear has a good reporting site for the major ones. I don't think that the Real Clear site has any influence over the polls, they just summarize them.