This is such an odd election. A couple weeks ago, my paper ran a story on A1 about the SIXTEEN top candidates. Granted, this was before the Iowa caucus, but seriously, I can't think of an election when there was such an element of unknown! Sixteen?!?
An Associated Press poll released today said that McCain has jumped out in front of the Republican hopefuls and Guiliani has fallen. I am not too surprised there. I think Guiliani has a lot of charisma, but he lacks the big-time experience that the other candidates have. Yes, he was the mayor of New York City, and it was during Sept. 11, but he still was only a mayor. Not a governor, like Bush was before he was elected president, or Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, or a U.S. senator like McCain, Obama and Clinton.
(On a side note, I think the same issue is what will keep Edwards from getting the Democratic nomination; he didn't return to the Senate after losing with Kerry in 2004 and therefore only has less than a full term under his belt.)
The same poll said that Clinton is still leading the Democrats, but that Obama is closing in. This doesn't surprise me much either. We haven't had a female president, nor have we had a non-white president, so they almost balance each other out on the "novel concept" scale.
Unlike 2004, where we knew it was going to be Bush and either Kerry or Edwards, I don't think we're going to know who's going to get the nomination for quite a while. My state's primary isn't even until mid-February.
