Pure Horserace: Little Change For Edwards?

Public Is Supportive Of Decision To Go On, But Support For Ex-Senator Is About The Same

(CBS)  According to today's CBS News poll, a majority of Americans (57%) say they support the decision by John Edwards to continue his presidential campaign in the wake of revelations that Elizabeth Edwards’ cancer has returned. A slimmer majority (52%) believe her health issues will not adversely impact his ability to commit himself to the presidency, should he win.

But underneath the positive findings for Edwards, there are some less-encouraging findings among Democratic respondents in the survey. Among his party's primary voters, Edwards finishes a distant third when matched up against Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, garnering just 18% in the poll.

Of more concern for Edwards' campaign could be Democratic attitudes about the former vice presidential nominee. While 56% of primary voters believe he could win the general election, just 51% said they felt Edwards has the experience to be president. And despite his presence on the national ticket in 2004, only 44% said they have a favorable opinion of him. Hardly any Democrats had an unfavorable opinion (5%). For the moment, it appears, last week's events have had little tangible impact on his campaign.


Moving Along: MoveOn.org, the liberal activist group, will hold a series of virtual town hall meetings in which Democratic presidential candidates will answer questions from MoveOn members about the war in Iraq.

The first of the series of three will take place on April 10, and the group says candidates will be asked to participate based on a survey of its members who will vote for those they would like to hear from. Any candidate getting 10% of that vote will be invited. MoveOn said Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards have confirmed they will be available to answer online questions if they are invited.

MoveOn has become a fixture in Democratic politics since it was created as a vehicle to defend President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the impeachment which followed. Given the chilly reception Mrs. Clinton has received from some activists in the party over her past support of the war, MoveOn members are likely to want to hear more from her, which could lead to some interesting moments.


Forbes Backs Giuliani: Republican Rudy Giuliani announced Wednesday that he had won the backing of a wealthy business-news publishing mogul. No, not New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg — the newest person in Giuliani's corner is Steve Forbes, editor in chief of Forbes magazine and a two-time presidential candidate.

Forbes will also serve as a national co-chairman and senior policy adviser to Giuliani's campaign. Landing Forbes' backing could boost Giuliani's bona fides among fiscal conservatives: When Forbes ran for president, the main plank of his platform was advocating a form of a "flat tax" that would tax all income at the same rate, across the board.

"Steve and I share an economic vision that embraces supply-side economics, tax relief, and spending restraint," Giuliani said in a statement.

It’s too bad for Giuliani that the law prohibits Forbes from bankrolling his campaign. When Forbes launched his 2000 presidential bid, he raised more than $37 million in three months, almost all of it from his own pockets.


And Don't Type In All Caps, Either: Republican John McCain's campaign was caught violating a chief rule of Internet etiquette on Tuesday — and paid the price for it: A "statement" temporarily appeared on McCain's MySpace page indicating he supported gay marriage, which he definitely does not.

What led to this? Apparently whoever maintains McCain's profile borrowed a bit of code for a box that lists various ways to interact with the senator. In and of itself, that's not a big deal — many people make code plug-ins for MySpace that are free to use. What the McCain people failed to do was credit the code's creator, Mike Davidson — and, even worse, they merely linked to a version on Davidson's own Web site instead of hosting it on the campaign's servers — a major online faux pas. Doing so took up Davidson's bandwidth and raised his ire.

In an act of revenge, Davidson replaced the image the McCain campaign was using with another that said, "Today I announce that I have reversed my position and come out in full support of gay marriage… particularly marriage between passionate females."
Davidson insists his action has nothing to do with his political views. "I'd have a beer with the guy anytime," he said in a blog posting.


Editor’s Note: Pure Horserace is a daily update of political news as interpreted by the political observers at CBSNews.com. Click here to sign up for the e-mail version, coming soon to an in-box near you.

[frankly6]

Clinton is the wrong candidate for President. I would like to see Edwards and Obama on the Democratic ticket.

[lexalina22]

well, the dems have the majority now, so it does seem the will of the people is shifting. let's see what the dems can do with it. someone help! i guess 8 years of this *** president is finally taking its toll...how could it not? i sure wish we could impeach him on the grounds of his being practically retarded. honestly, i dont care who it is, anyone is better than Bush!!! and the sad thing is, i mean that! left, right, independent, green space alien, i dont really give a rat's a$$!!! no president can stand alone and prosecute a war all by himself...we need to bi*** slap his SORRY A$$!

[iceman_1960]

Time Magazine reports a surprising edge for Republicans in the 2008 Presidential race:

"In our poll, Hillary Clinton loses to John McCain, 42 - 48 % , and to Rudy Giuliani 41 - 50 %. Even though Clinton maintains a 7 % edge over Obama among Democratic respondents, Obama fares better in the general election match-ups. It's so close that it's a statistical dead-heat, but Obama still loses: 43 - 45 % to McCain, 44 - 45 % to Giuliani."

I don't believe this edge will last.

The only reason Hillary wants back in the White House is so she can steal everything that she did not not take the last time she was there

[lexalina22]

eh, i think most politicians are corrupt anyway-it's kinda a pre-requisite (misspelled?) for the job, at least she is competent and intelligent, too. sure cant say that about Bush the Idiot, then again, the only strength he has is his sense of humor, he chose the wrong profession, he is more stand-up comediene than president! but he likes a good bologna sandwich :)....i cant believe i voted for him the first time, took me about a year to realize "Wait...this guy isnt ACTING like an idiot? He really IS an idiot???? OH NO!!! What did i do???" i really thought it was okay to vote for him cause i thought everyone who ran for pres HAD to be intelligent. apparently that is NOT a pre-requsite for the job...we should make presidential canidates take a test or something. We could weed the idiots out, even the super rich ones with powerful daddies...

[dallasmsl]

I cannot vote for Hillary. She's just more of the same Washington corruption that we already have. She is not about change. She is all about the money.

[lexalina22]

Yeah, I agree, the new revelations about his wife's disease makes me think he would be a little distracted. Plus, they have two young children to raise, all while trying to adapt to the white house and deal with Iraq? Just too much for poor Johnnie I think. Although I would not rule him out for a future run! Hilary or Obama would just be more together and more able to focus soley on the mess our country presently finds itself in. As for Hilary, she already knows the white house inside and out and knows what being pres is all about and we all know she can maintain her composure under fire...and even though Obama IS inspiring, right now I will go with someone who I think we all know has the experience and know-how to get the job done. I mean, she was Bill's right hand lady for 8 years. Maybe if our country wasnt in such a mess I would choose inspiration over proven competency, but not this time! Maybe Mama Clinton is a bit harsh, but she knows what she's doing. I think we should let Big Momma Clinton fix this mess! :) Having Pap-paw Clinton around to help certainly doesn't hurt either, he is a proven international relations genius! Two for the price of one, hard for me to resist! As for the Rep. canidates...come on, we either vote for a wild man that married his cousin, an 80 year old, or some unknown guy named "Mitt"..? i mean, "mitt" for god's sake....mitt! .

[frankly6]

He's the best all-around candidate I've seen so far.

[us_infidel]

"Pure Horserace"

More like Pure Horse$hit

[antoniof123]

He is a nice guy but that is not all that is needed to be President.