in New Hampshire

Author: José A. Cruz


People's Weekly World Newspaper, 01/10/08 13:09


NASHUA, N.H. — As voters came out in record numbers for a presidential primary here, Jan. 8, the great majority could agree on one thing: the need for a new direction for the country, away from the Bush/Cheney policies.

Many voters said they only made up their minds about who to vote for in the last few days before the primary, and many came to the polls without having made a decision.

Shopping at a mall in southern New Hampshire before he voted, Tim Welles expressed the mood of many in the state, saying, “Things got to change in America.” President Bush has let “jobs leave the country” while using tax dollars for “a stupid war,” Welles said. His anger, he said, was in part because he had to leave school to work when the plant where his stepfather worked closed. “I want to vote for someone who is different, maybe Obama or McCain,” he said.

New Hampshire handed a much-needed but slim win to Hillary Clinton with 39 percent of the vote, over Barack Obama’s 36 percent, and John Edwards’ 17 percent. Bill Richardson got 5 percent while Dennis Kucinich got 1 percent.

Thanking her supporters, Clinton sounded an anti-corporate note, saying, “The oil companies, the drug companies, the health insurance companies, the predatory student loan companies have had seven years of a president who stands up for them. It’s time we had a president who stands up for all of you.” Clinton and Obama each won nine convention delegates and Edwards won four. The race for the Democratic nomination is now in a virtual three-way tie, with Obama at a total of 25 delegates, Clinton 23 and Edwards 19.

On the GOP side John McCain won with 37 percent of the vote, defeating “favorite son” Mitt Romney, the former governor of neighboring Massachusetts, who drew 32 percent. Mike Huckabee, who finished first in Iowa, came in third with 11 percent, Rudy Giuliani had 9 percent and Ron Paul drew 8 percent.

For workers here, jobs were a major concern.

“After the devastating impact of NAFTA on manufacturing and the middle class, this election more than ever is the most important election,” said Bill Pienta, Northeast regional director for the Steelworkers union. “There is no alternative to getting candidates speaking on the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs.”

Some 50-60 Steelworker volunteers spent the last weekend campaigning for Edwards here. Pienta credited Edwards with bringing the concerns of unions and workers into the presidential debates.

Michael Atkins and Silvia Gale reflected the varying views of voters here. Both are both board members of a local child advocacy agency. “Silvia and I believe in the same things — we just have a difference on who is the best person to lead,” Atkins, a lawyer, said as he held a Clinton sign.

Holding an Obama sign, Gale, a children’s advocate, said this year’s election is especially important because “we’re in a perilous state.” The outcome, she said, “affects our country and the globe.”

“As a life-long feminist, reproductive issues are really important to me,” Gale said. But the number one issue, in her view, is “putting an end to an unnecessary war that is robbing our upcoming generation.” Gale noted that, at her polling place, an older woman had told her, “It’s because of Barack Obama that I’m here voting. I have never voted in a primary election before.”

Born in El Salvador, Ester González, a medical assistant at a health clinic in Nashua, said her main concern is immigration reform. “I’m going to pick someone who is going to fix the status of people who don’t have any papers,” as a way to start “fixing” what’s wrong in the world, she said as she walked into her polling place with her husband and toddler son.

In Manchester, Margarita Jamie said she and her husband David were concerned about issues relating to working people. “We’ve been slammed in getting help from the government,” she said emphatically. “It’s important for me to get my vote in because it’s important for that to get taken care of and also health care is a big issue for me, too.” Jamie said health insurance costs have “gone skyrocket high and they should make it more affordable, especially for the middle-class people that are trying to make ends meet.”

On a record-breaking warm day, a record-breaking 453,000 voters turned out for the primary. In some places, poll workers had to make photocopies of ballots in order to have enough. Some precincts reported having to swear in poll workers as deputy registrars to handle the influx of voters registering for the first time on primary day. New Hampshire is one of a few states that allow same-day registration.

Susan Webb contributed to this article.

I found this info. at http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/12296/1/405

Republican Mike Huckabee seeks to broaden his appeal

I found this at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-huckabee15dec15,1,6011085.story

GOP leader in Iowa is trying to win over N.H. and nation

By Jill Zuckman | Tribune national correspondent
9:28 AM CST, December 15, 2007


BOSCAWEN, N.H. - In Iowa, where he's leading the Republican field, Mike Huckabee bills himself as a "Christian leader." But here in New England, where voters are more taciturn about their religious beliefs, Huckabee is a "committed conservative," according to his television ads.

With his 14th visit to New Hampshire this weekend, Huckabee, a Baptist preacher and former Arkansas governor, is trying to build on his inordinate success in Iowa and pick up momentum against a more competitive Republican field. To remain in contention for the GOP presidential nomination, Huckabee needs to show that he can broaden his appeal not just to New Hampshire but nationally as well.

He's also trying to expand his campaign, which is suddenly under pressure from all the attention, to a more national operation. Friday, Huckabee announced that veteran Republican strategist Ed Rollins would take over as national chairman of his campaign in an attempt to do just that.



New Hampshire poses a special challenge for Huckabee, who is polling in the single digits in the state, trailing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Arizona Sen. John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

"It's going to be very, very difficult for him to get over the hump in a state like New Hampshire that has essentially no socially conservative voters to speak of," said Andrew Smith, a University of New Hampshire political scientist and pollster.

Iowa's strong contingent of Christian conservatives seems drawn to Huckabee's background as a folksy preacher. But if Huckabee can sell himself in this first-in-the-nation primary state, it is likely to be through sheer force of personality as a wisecracking candidate who feels voters' pain and is willing to say so in often-colorful terms.

"Live free or die -- I get the picture here," Huckabee on Friday told employees on the plant floor at Elektrisola, a manufacturer of magnetic wire, echoing the New Hampshire motto.

To those workers he sounded a populist appeal -- decrying jobs sent overseas, lambasting the federal tax system that eats up their paychecks, and underscoring his roots coming from a family of modest means. "It's not OK if you guys are invisible to the people who get elected to office," Huckabee said.

What he did not talk about was his ardent opposition to abortion or his support for a constitutional amendment banning the procedure. Nor did he discuss his support for a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

While he talks openly about faith and politics elsewhere, saying his religion drives his decisions, Huckabee did not mention it in Boscawen or at the New Hampshire Veterans Home in nearby Tilton.

Huckabee said he's not trying to obscure his faith or his social conservatism as he campaigns in a state where Republicans tend to be fiscally conservative and socially liberal.

"I've never downplayed or up-played it. More people have asked me questions about it than perhaps any other person running," he said at a news conference packed with a newly attentive media contingent. "What I'm playing up is the fact that I've got more executive experience actually running a government as a governor. That's what's important. People shouldn't vote for me or against me because of my faith."

Rollins, who helped guide Ronald Reagan into the White House, said Huckabee will work for New Hampshire votes by relating to ordinary people's problems. "We're going to be full-bore here," Rollins said. "We're not writing off this state."

While he has little infrastructure in New Hampshire compared to other candidates, Huckabee can point to a small but solid roster of well-known supporters. He's also a natural at the type of retail politics essential for success in this state.

At the Cheshire County Republican Christmas party recently, "he worked the room as well as I'd seen any candidate work a room all year," said Fergus Cullen, the New Hampshire state party chairman.

"I just find him to be very honest," said Dan Philbrick, Huckabee's Strafford County co-chairman, who signed on when the former governor was barely registering in the polls. "He's not scripted, he doesn't have a big staff telling him what to say and not to say. I think he's going to surprise everyone here in New Hampshire."

Still, Huckabee has a lot to overcome. He's up against Romney, a well-known former governor from next-door Massachusetts; McCain, who is still popular after winning the state's 2000 Republican primary; and Giuliani, lionized for his performance in New York after the Sept. 11 attacks.

David Carney, a longtime Republican strategist, said Huckabee's socially conservative views won't disqualify him, but that he's hurt by having a limited operation in place.

"In this year, anything is possible, but ... I don't think people should expect him to win New Hampshire if he wins Iowa," Carney said

For his part, Huckabee said he understands that it's his turn under the spotlight as the media scrutinize him and opponents criticize him. Most recently, he apologized to Romney for asking if Mormons believe Jesus and the devil are brothers.

"Lately I've been accused of just about everything including the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby and being complicit in ... the JFK assassination," he told the factory workers. "Don't tell me what they'll do next."

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jzuckman@tribune.com

HUCKABEE LIES ABOUT RAPIST PAROLE

Huckabee’s Leap in Iowa Poll Reverberates

DES MOINES – The big news in presidential politics this Sunday is the pole vault of Mike Huckabee into first place in the new Des Moines Register poll of likely Iowa Republican caucus-goers, who had appeared to favor the better-known, better-financed Mitt Romney for much of this year.

The poll found Mr. Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, winning 29 percent of the support from Republicans who definitely or probably plan to vote in the Jan. 3 caucuses – an increase of 17 points since the last poll in early October. Mr. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, fell to second place with 24 percent of the vote, while former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani came in third with 13 percent.

On the Democratic side, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois showed continued strength against Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, polling in a statistical dead heat that also includes former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina.

The poll of 500 Republicans and 500 Democrats, conducted in late November, had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. Iowa goes first among all the states in the presidential nominating process of caucuses and primaries, followed by New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina.

In the last Register poll, in early October, Mrs. Clinton led Mr. Edwards and Mr. Obama, 29-23-22 percent respectively.

Since then Mrs. Clinton has faced a barrage of criticism from the two men – particularly from Mr. Edwards – over her positions on Iran, Social Security reform, and her candor and electability. She has only recently begun returning fire in kind, though so far it has been mostly aimed at Mr. Obama and the fact that his health insurance proposal does not guarantee universal coverage because it does not require people to obtain insurance.

Among the most interesting findings in the poll, Mr. Obama also overtook Mrs. Clinton in her core demographic – female voters. He had support from 31 percent of women likely to attend the caucuses, compared to 26 percent for Mrs. Clinton. In the October poll, Mrs. Clinton had 34 percent to Mr. Obama’s 21 percent.

The poll also found Mr. Huckabee leading Mr. Romney among men, born-again Christians, and middle-aged voters, and running about even among women and older voters. Mr. Romney did better with younger Republicans,

Three other Republican candidates – Fred Thompson, John McCain, and Ron Paul – were all in the single digits in the new poll.

Huckabee on Aid for Illegals

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who backed in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants, hedged Sunday on whether illegal immigrants who have gone to school in the United States should become eligible for federal student aid such as Pell grants and subsidized federal student loans.

"I'm not sure that I would support that," Huckabee told ABC News, "it was a different program in Arkansas."

Huckabee's failure to take a clear position on federal student aid while appearing on ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" drew swift rebukes from two Republican rivals.

"Gov. Romney does not support providing federal taxpayer-funded student aid intended for legal residents going to illegal immigrants," Romney spokesman Kevin Madden told ABC News. "Mike Huckabee's position [in Arkansas] that taxpayer dollars meant for students who are legal residents should also be made available to illegal immigrants puts him squarely at odds with the American taxpayer."

Echoing a line that Romney used against Huckabee in last week's CNN/YouTube debate, Madden added, "Mike Huckabee needs to understand that it's not his money. It's the taxpayers' money."

Huckabee's indecision on federal student aid was also criticized by the campaign of former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson.

"Children who are born in this country are U.S. citizens and entitled to the privileges of citizenship," said Thompson spokeswoman Karen Hanretty. "Those in our country illegally are not. It's that simple."

Huckabee appeared on "This Week" on the same day that a highly respected poll showed him as the new Republican leader in Iowa.

Huckabee leads the GOP field with 29 percent support, according to a Des Moines Register poll released Sunday. Romney has 24 percent, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has 13 percent, and Thompson has 9 percent. The Iowa Republican Caucuses take place on Jan. 3.

In-state tuition for illegal immigrants was never enacted in Arkansas. But Huckabee's rivals believe that his momentum in Iowa can be stopped once his views on public benefits for the children of illegal immigrants become more widely known.

Asked on "This Week" about his Arkansas record, the former Baptist minister said, "You don't punish a child because a parent committed a crime, or committed a sin, you just don't do it."

Huckabee did not rule out that his principle might extend to the federal level.

He suggested, however, that he might view state and federal benefit questions differently.

"It's the difference between being punished and being rewarded," said Huckabee. ". . . the point in Arkansas was, we had kids who had been in our schools, by law. And to simply shut them out of any additional educational advancement, to me, seemed not only in their worst interests, but ours, as well as the state's

Abortion groups split, giving endorsements to Huckabee and Thompson

Sunday, December 2, 2007, 10:08 AM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has picked up endorsement of Georgia Right to Life, the statewide anti-abortion organization.

Again, GRTL is in disagreement with the national organization, which last month endorsed Fred Thompson. But the Georgia group says Huckabee is the best man to stop Rudy Giuliani.

Not Hillary Clinton. Rudy Giuliani.

In the past, the Georgia organization has urged a tougher line than National Right to Life — insisting that political candidates oppose abortion even in cases of rape or incest.

This time, it looks like an amendment to the U.S. Constitution is the issue.

Here’s what the national group said when it endorsed Thompson:

“While Fred supports the long-term objective of the Human Life Amendment, the votes are simply not there in Congress, nor were they there when we controlled both houses of Congress. For instance, in the Senate, we are presently at least 25 votes short, with passage in the House even more difficult.

“Fred intends to focus his presidency on those things that can be achieved, or advanced, in the next four to eight years.”

The Georgia group not only noted Huckabee’s support of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but also applauded the candidate for supporting a local legislative priority of Georgia Right to Life — H.R.536, which would establish that human life legally begins at fertilization.

Bryan Lash, the PAC director for the Georgia group, acknowledged the split with their Washington-based umbrella.

“Under normal circumstances we would communicate their presidential endorsement to our 225,000 households,” he said. “Passing a Personhood Amendment here in Georgia is our key issue in achieving our objective to extend the protections of the law to all persons both born and unborn.”

Further, Lash said, “Mr. Huckabee’s recent surge in the polls, we believe, demonstrates that he is the pro-life movement’s best hope in defeating pro-abortion candidate Rudy Giuliani.”

Huckabee "I drink a different kind of Jesus juice,"

LITTLE ROCK, ARK. -- In 2005, a Republican state senator named Jim Holt introduced a bill to deny public benefits to Arkansas' soaring population of illegal immigrants. Holt, a Southern Baptist minister, figured it was a rock-solid conservative idea -- a matter, he said, "of right and wrong."

Arkansas' governor at the time was also a professed conservative, and also a Southern Baptist minister. But Mike Huckabee had only scorn for his fellow Republican's proposal.

Huckabee called the bill "race-baiting" and "demagoguery," and argued that the denial of health services could harm innocent children. The bill, Huckabee said, did not conform with his take on Christian values.

"I drink a different kind of Jesus juice," Huckabee said.

Today, Huckabee is seeking the Republican nomination for president, and voters nationwide are getting to know a different kind of candidate: He is the Southern preacher who favors droll wit over brimstone sermonizing, a rock 'n' roll bass player who believes in creationism, with an Oprah-ready story about a 110-pound weight loss that probably saved his life.

Here in Arkansas, where Huckabee ruled as governor for 10 1/2 years, voters grew accustomed to a different brand of Republican -- a governor with an idiosyncratic agenda that was sometimes difficult to categorize, but always driven, Huckabee insists, by his Southern Baptist faith. That faith influenced major policy decisions that could be deemed moderate, if not liberal, including a significant environmental initiative and a vastly expanded healthcare plan for low-income children.

Though Huckabee took strong stands against abortion and same-sex marriage, his record on taxes -- a key pillar of Republican orthodoxy -- was distinctly heterodox. He supported tax hikes on cigarettes, gasoline, groceries, sales and income. A video circulating on YouTube -- and played, in part, on the CNN-YouTube Republican debate Wednesday -- shows Huckabee addressing the Arkansas Legislature in 2003 and suggesting that he would be open to raising a broad range of taxes.

Initiatives like the children's health plan tapped a deep vein of populism, helping Huckabee win two gubernatorial elections. But his record on taxes and immigration alienated some Arkansas Republicans, who are watching with trepidation as Huckabee's prospects soar in the GOP primary race for president.

The most recent Des Moines Register poll, published today, showed Huckabee overtaking former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. (Huckabee's 29%-to-24% lead in the Register's poll is within the margin of error, but it's a huge advance from his tie for sixth place in the same poll in the spring.) Other surveys showed him gaining ground against former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani in Florida.

Holt, the former state senator, has a warning for conservatives around the country who think they have found their candidate.

"I think if they knew [his record] it would totally de-energize them," he said. " . . . His policies are just wrong."

In a phone interview, Huckabee, 52, asserted that he left Arkansas a stronger state when term limits forced him out of office in January -- with improved highways, more accountable schools, low unemployment, and an $800-million budget surplus. He also stood by his conservative credentials.

"I'd put mine against anybody's on that Republican stage," he said.

His achievements were won in the face of an often-vigorous Democratic opposition that controlled the Legislature throughout his governorship. At times it seemed he was "getting it from both sides," said Ann Clemmer, a Republican and Huckabee supporter who teaches political science at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. "I think he did a lot just on his own -- really on his own counsel. And in that regard I think you have to say he was a leader."

Huckabee hails from President Clinton's hometown of Hope, and his political career has played out in Clinton's shadow. In 1993, voters narrowly elected Huckabee to replace Democratic Lt. Gov. Jim Guy Tucker, who succeeded to the governorship when Clinton was elected president. Huckabee became governor three years later, when Tucker resigned after being found guilty of two felonies as part of the Whitewater investigation involving the business dealings of Bill and Hillary Clinton and others.

To observers like Rex Nelson, a former political editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Huckabee represented a welcome change.

"I think everybody wanted some calm, some stability," said Nelson, who signed on as Huckabee's press secretary in 1996 and served for nine years.

Arkansans eventually turned their attention away from Whitewater and the Clintons, and toward the teetotaling preacher who had once led Baptist congregations in Pine Bluff and Texarkana. Then, as now, Huckabee put his religious convictions front and center. Early on, he developed a mode of governing that seemed to be both expedient and from the heart.

Political consultant Dick Morris, who also worked for Bill Clinton, advised Huckabee in his first race for lieutenant governor. He told Huckabee that to succeed in Arkansas, he should avoid acting like a "country club" Republican who only represented the rich.

Morris also recalled saying to Huckabee: "I assume you're against parole for violent criminals, because you're a conservative." Huckabee told Morris that he would hold open the possibility of parole because he believed, in some cases, in the power of forgiveness, Morris said.

Polls in Iowa

By Thomas Beaumont and Jonathan Roos, The Des Moines Register
Republican Mike Huckabee and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama have taken the lead among Iowans likely to take part in their respective party caucuses, according to The Des Moines Register's latest poll.

Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, wins the support of 29% of Iowans who say they definitely or probably will attend the Republican Party's caucuses on Jan. 3. That's a gain of 17 percentage points since the last Iowa Poll was taken in early October, when Huckabee trailed Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson.

Obama, an Illinois senator, leads for the first time in the Register's poll as the choice of 28% of likely Democratic Party caucus goers, up from 22% in October. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., was the preferred candidate of 25%, down from 29% in the previous poll.

Romney, who has invested more time and money campaigning in the state than any other GOP candidate, remains in the thick of the Iowa race with the backing of 24% of likely caucusgoers. But that's a drop of 5 percentage points since October for the former Massachusetts governor.

Despite the movement, the race for 2008's opening nominating contest remains very competitive about a month before the Jan. 3 caucuses. Roughly six in 10 likely Republican caucus participants and slightly more than half of Democrats say they could still be persuaded to support another candidate.


John Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina who led in the Register's May poll, held steady with 23%, in third place among Democrats. Rudy Giuliani, ex-mayor of New York and the front-runner in GOP national polls, was third among Iowa Republicans with 13%, despite waging a limited campaign in the state.

The new Iowa Poll, conducted over four days last week, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

Republicans

Poll findings indicate Huckabee is making the most of a low-budget campaign by tapping into the support of Iowa's social conservatives.

The Register's new scientific poll shows Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, leading Romney 38% to 22% among those who consider themselves born-again Christians. In October, Romney edged Huckabee 23% to 18% among people in that group, which accounts for one-half of all likely caucus participants.

Similarly, Huckabee holds a 2-to-1 lead over Romney among those who say it is more important for a presidential candidate to be socially conservative than fiscally conservative.

Poll participant Thelma Whittaker, a retired teacher from Columbus Junction, is leaning toward supporting Huckabee in the caucuses but also could back Romney.

"I'm a very conservative Republican and I feel that (Huckabee) follows through with those ideas," said Whittaker, who said she is troubled by the country's moral decline. On the other hand, she wonders if Huckabee is a strong enough candidate to win the White House for the GOP.

When it comes to Romney, "I go along with a lot of his ideas," Whittaker said, "but he's also done some flip-flopping that scares me on issues like abortion and taxes."

Huckabee has come a long way since last May, when he languished in a tie for sixth place in the Register's poll, garnering the support of just 4% of likely caucus participants then. His campaign picked up steam after he notched a surprising second-place finish in the Iowa Republican Party's straw poll in August.

Huckabee leads Romney among men, 28% to 20%. They run neck-and-neck among women. The ex-governor of Arkansas draws more support among caucusgoers between the ages of 35 and 54, while Romney does better among younger adults. They compete almost evenly among those 55 or older.

Older Iowans generally turn out in larger numbers for the caucuses than do younger adults.

Giuliani is seen as the most electable of the candidates and also has a slight edge as the most effective negotiator and the best able to bring Republicans and Democrats together.

On the other hand, the New Yorker is seen by more likely caucus participants as the most ego-driven of the candidates and more of a polarizing figure than the other top-tier candidates in Iowa.

"He's too New York," Whittaker, the retired teacher, said of Giuliani. "He doesn't understand us. He doesn't care to understand us."

But poll participant Mark Pottorff, an agronomist from Sergeant Bluff, sides with those who have a high regard for Giuliani, citing his experience as a federal prosecutor and big-city mayor.

"He is tough on crime, and during September 2001 he led New York City through some very tough and dark days," said Pottorff, 51. "I think he has the ability and the fortitude to stand up to dictators and terrorists."

Thompson, a former senator from Tennessee who waited until September to formally enter the race for the Republican nomination, has slipped to fourth place in the Iowa Poll, at 9%.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas are tied for fifth place at 7% each. Four candidates trail them.

Paul, an opponent of the war in Iraq, has the dubious distinction of being the GOP candidate who outpolls his rivals as the most negative contender. But Paul, who has a loyal following and a well-funded campaign, has been creeping up in the Register's polls this year of likely caucus participants.

Democrats

The lead change among Democratic caucus participants comes after weeks of Obama and Edwards criticizing Clinton's position on U.S. policy toward Iran. Meanwhile, Clinton has accused Obama of being inexperienced, and recently criticized his proposal to expand health insurance coverage.

The poll shows what has continued to be a wide gap between the top three candidates and the remainder of the field.

Iowa City Democrat Katharyn Browne said she abandoned her support for Clinton in the past month and now supports Obama in light of the Iran issue.

Obama spent weeks in October and November attacking Clinton's support for a measure that allowed President Bush to declare Iran's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization. Obama said the move was a step toward war. Clinton said the measure enhanced U.S. negotiating strength with Iran.

"An Iran war terrifies me," said Browne, a 30-year-old University of Iowa student.

In the new poll, Obama leads with support from 31% of women likely attend the caucuses, compared with 26% for Clinton. In October, Clinton was the preferred candidate of 34% of women caucusgoers, compared with 21% for Obama.

Women represent roughly six in 10 Democratic caucusgoers, according to the new poll.

Obama also dominates among younger caucusgoers, with support from 48% of those younger than 35. Clinton was the choice of 19% in that group and Edwards of 17%.

Obama has an advantage among first-time caucusgoers. He also leads among people who say they definitely will attend the caucuses.

Clinton is the top choice among caucusgoers age 55 and older. The largest share of Democratic caucusgoers — exactly half — are in this age group.

The former first lady continues to face stubborn misgivings, despite her dozens of visits to the state this year and increasing campaign presence of her husband, the popular former president Bill Clinton.

Thirty percent of Democratic caucusgoers viewed Sen. Clinton as either mostly or very unfavorably, behind Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and former Alaska senator Mike Gravel. She topped the list of candidates whose nomination would be one of the biggest disappointments at 27%.

Edwards, who finished second in the 2004 caucuses, led narrowly among men in the new poll and was tied with Clinton for the favorite in Iowa's rural areas.

Rural Centerville Democrat Candace Scritchfield supported Edwards in 2004 and plans to again.

"He's a very down-to-earth and trustworthy person," said Scritchfield, a 44-year-old homemaker. "He has a lot of loyalty, that I can tell."

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson remained in fourth place as the choice of 9%, and Delaware Sen. Joe Biden remained in fifth with 6%, both virtually unchanged from the October poll. All others had support from 1% or less.

Presidential preferences include people leaning toward supporting a candidate. Seven percent said they were uncommitted or unsure about whom to support.