ROMNEY STRONGEST IN 1Q GOP TOTAL$; NH DEM POLL; BIDEN’S PLOY; DeFAZIO COURTED.
April 3rd, 2007
WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE.ROMNEY STRONGEST IN 1Q GOP TOTAL$; NH DEM POLL; BIDEN'S PLOY; DeFAZIO COURTED.
P2008 - THE GOP: The 1Q-07 fundraising numbers are in for most of the GOP Presidential contenders. Mitt Romney led the field with an impressive $20.6 million collected during the period. Rudy Giuliani, who leads in the polls, was second with over $15 million collected and $10+ million cash-on-hand. John McCain finished the money hunt in third with $12.5 million -- a number even McCain's campaign manager conceded was disappointing because "we had hoped to do better." Nearly everyone was surprised by how far McCain trailed Romney in fundraising. As for the second tier hopefuls, Sam Brownback and Tom Tancredo each collected $1.3 million, and Mike Huckabee lagged behind with around $500,000 raised to date. No numbers were released yet for Tommy Thompson, Jim Gilmore, Ron Paul or Duncan Hunter. "We are not playing the first-quarter game," said Gilmore's spokesperson.
NEW HAMPSHIRE: A new WMUR/CNN poll of New Hampshire Democrats paints an early picture of a tightening three-way race. Edwards is up, Clinton is sharply down and Obama is slightly down since the same poll last month. The new numbers: Clinton - 27%, Edwards - 21%, Obama - 20%, Gore - 11%, Richardson - 4%, Biden - 2%, and all others at 1% or less.
BIDEN: Joe Biden's campaign launched a new campaign website -- HeadToHead08.com -- which uses YouTube videos to compare Biden to his six main rivals. The first comparison issue is Iraq. Interestingly, his site even provides links to the official campaign sites of those six opponents. "I think this campaign is not about money but about issues. And I took what the other candidates put up as their preference of what they state their position is, and they put on YouTube, and put them side by side. And some of them are good, and some of them are better, and some of them are worse," Biden explained on MSNBC.
OREGON: Bowing to pressure from the DSCC and the strong encouragement of progressive activists, Congressman Peter DeFazio (D) said this week he is now "reluctantly considering" running against US Senator Gordon Smith (R) next year. DeFazio explained his reluctance -- the same concerns that kept him out of the gubernatorial race in the past -- is his distaste for the extensive fundraising required to run a viable statewide race. DeFazio promises to make a decision by next month. DSCC polling purportedly shows DeFazio holding a 4-point lead over Smith.
Posted by Ron Gunzburger - 04.04.07 | Permalink | postCount('040407a');
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