New Alabama poll: Thompson shows appeal to GOP likely voters

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - A new survey shows potential presidential candidate Fred Thompson has jumped to the front of the Republican field in Alabama, while the Democratic race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has tightened up.

Capital Survey Research Center, the polling arm of the Alabama Education Association, released a statewide survey showing Thompson, a former Tennessee senator born in Sheffield, Ala., favored by 34 percent of likely Republican voters.

Thompson was followed by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani with 20 percent, Arizona Sen. John McCain with 11 percent, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has not announced, with 7 percent, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with 5 percent.

That was a major change from a statewide poll that Capital Survey Research Center did in May. Thompson wasn't included in that poll, which had Giuliani with 29 percent, McCain with 23 percent, Gingrich with 15 percent, and Romney with 7 percent.

Brad Moody, a political scientist at Auburn University Montgomery, said the changing numbers show the Republican race is wide open for the state's presidential primary on Feb. 5.

State Republican Party Chairman Mike Hubbard said Thompson has appeal as a conservative Southerner. "If he does indeed jump into the race, I see him doing extremely well in Alabama," Hubbard said.

In a survey of likely Democratic voters, 33 percent said they would vote for Clinton. The New York senator had polled 37 percent in May.

Obama polled 29 percent in the new survey. The Illinois senator had 21 percent in May.

"If this poll is representative of what's going on in the South, it should be a little of a wake-up call for Hillary Clinton," David Lanoue, chairman of the political science department at the University of Alabama, told The Birmingham News.

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards tallied 9 percent in the new survey, which was the same level of support he had in May.

Former Vice President Al Gore, who has not announced, polled 6 percent, down from 9 percent earlier.

The new survey was conducted July 11-13 and July 16-19 with 841 likely voters. It had a sampling error margin of 5 percentage points.

Dole didn't lose because he's a nice guy. He lost because he had about zero charisma and because he was Mr. Resume - he thought that he deserved the nomination and the Presidency because he had done so many things (mostly well). Oh, and he was battling an incumbant President. He had little chance. Thompson looks and acts nice, but he's a seasoned trial lawyer and has the appropriate aggressive instincts of the breed. He'd wipe the floor with her in a debate, IMHO. He doesn't act like he's entitled to anything, and doesn't have an incumbant to fight. Plus, Hillary isn't Bill. Bill, for all of his (12-foot long list of) faults, had charisma and had a silver tongue. Hillary is the Anti-Charisma, mean, aggressive, outwardly power-hungry, alternately shrieky/preachy or monotone boring. Plus she has about 50% of the people in the country who would crawl over broken glass to prevent her from getting a 4-year lease on 1600 PA Avenue.

Oh, and he's the one spouting Reaganesque views on a multitude of policy issues, including the red-meat issue of WINNING the War on Terror(ists and their enablers). Hillary is spouting old, worn-out cliches from economic and social policies that are themselves old and worn-out, not to mention WRONG.

Hildabeast is the one who can't win. There will be college majors created at pretentious uber-liberal colleges and universities in the future to study why "the smartest woman in the world" didn't win.

I also like the headline - he has appeal. Yeah, a 34%-20% lead over Julie-anni and he has "appeal." Something's missing there, like the word "immense" prior to "appeal."

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