I'm not sure how much stock I put in these polls, despite the breathless press attention. Although I couldn't tell from the story, polls which measure a name against an unnamed opponent (Hillary v. generic Republican) always skew the results toward the named canidate. It's way too early to tell anything about Hillary, especially if she had a hard 06 race to keep her seat.

Oh sure, but note that her new score over 50% is relevant, compared against her earlier polls with the same conditions (and an under 50% score).

Well, it's very early of course, but I still give Hillary little chance of winning the general election, unless the Republicans nominate a Pat Buchanan type. She's going to have to fight the fact that, even more so than Kerry, it's too obvious she will say or do anything to get elected.

Also, as someone who went to the same high school as Hillary, I would not be at all surprised if some major political dirt is dug up about her. She grew up surrounded by the Dems' infamous Machine politics, and I think it has had some influence on how she does things.

I'd be curious how she polls in battlegroud states, and also how she polls after that book comes out this fall.

If Howard Dean thinks Tom Delay should be behind bars because, IIRC, one of Tom's former campaign finance guys is on trial (which may lead to DeLay himself); then shouldn't Hillary get measured for a striped suit too? After all, one of her former campaign finance guys is on trial.

Also, the Clintons haven't gotten much press lately, good or bad.

I think the numbers change once Hillary has to start defending herself regarding ethics issues-she may be able to move center politically to protect her rear from "liberal" charges, but there are a lot of ethical problems, the least of which is the current investigation regarding campaign funds raised for her.

I figure you get the best idea of how Hillary does, once the mud starts to fly, and there hasn't been any mudthrowing for a while.

I am beginning to have a recurring nightmare that we end up having to choose between Hillary (Shrillery) and John (where's the camera?) McCain. As a solid Bush supporter I have been now classified "Ultra" conservative because I think McCain sold out. I have never thought of myself as "ultra" anything. The strong message we sent to our Repubican Congresspeople in 2004 is being forgotten. Republicans are going mushy on us.

I really wish Bush would start twisting some arms and the Republicans would START ACTING LIKE THE MAJORITY PARTY.

Oh I'm sure her poll numbers went up. Now let me see the poll was conducted at Leavenworth by Seattle's board of electors? The only poll I'll trust is Ladbrooke's or any other turf accountant's take on the election. All others are a joke.

Fox is reporting that Hillary's finance guy was aquitted today. No details. Doesn't sound good, though.

The poll's internals were pretty hopelessly skewed.

The poll had 51% Democrats and 40% Republicans, and wasn't corrected for party identification.

Her negatives were (not surprisingly) very high: 39% said they were "not likely at all" to vote for her.

(Courtesy of PowerLine and RedState)

I suspected that Laguna. Hillary's status as presumptive Dem nominee may just be indicative of how detached from the mainstream the Dems have become.

I think McCain has foregone any chance of being the GOP nominee. It's hard to do it from the Senate anyway, and Senate nominees rarely win.

I think we'll see Giuliani squeak out the '08 nomination and go on to beat Hillary solidly though not spectacularly, 52-47.

But a lot could change between now and then. If we see more democratic reform in the Mideast and we're down to 25,000 or fewer troops in Iraq by late 2007 with things gong well there, that puts major shine on someone like Condoleeza Rice.