“I really think Obama will beat McCain. With McCain vs. Hillary, I give McCain the edge.”
I’m with ya here, Eagle.
I’d guess McCain would beat Hill by 3 percentage points but he’d lose to Obama by 8...maybe more.
I'm not quite so pessimistic about a race against Obama for three reasons.
First, the Clintons are incredibly vindictive. If Obama wins the nomination, expect the Clintons to do everything they can behind the scenes to undermine Obama's campaign. Hillary would be a factor in 2012, particularly if she benefits from the remorse vote of the Democrats who feel they lost the election only because the party nominated the wrong person.
Second, John McCain may not be popular with most conservatives but he is with independents who just want government to work and don't obsess over political ideology. The latter group is probably larger in today's voting population than the former. To a degree, the more conservatives grouse about McCain, the more the independents like him.
Third, Obama can be shown to be an empty suit. While a large portion of the Democrat Party is swooning over Obama, I'm not sure that the general election voters will be after closely examining him. A lot of the heavy lifting on the destruction of Obama will probably be done by the Clintons before the convention. McCain and the Republicans will only need to build on this.
Although the polls don't show it now, I think that Obama will be easier to beat than Clinton.