Reidblog [The Reid Report blog]

The new USAT/Gallup poll is out ... Chicago Trib's The Swamp has the horserace, which shows Giuliani doing better than McCain against Obama, and Hillary virtually tied with both McCain and Giuliani in a head to head match-up (she slightly beats McCain, 50-47, and slightly loses to Giuliani, 48-50. As for Obama, he ties 47-47 with McCain but loses by 9 points to Rudy (52-43).

The poll also finds that Big Bill, who's set to host a big fundraiser for the wifey in NYC this weekend, is as hot as ever, with a favorable rating just off his presidential high of 66 percent (he's at 63 percent now). Go Bill!

BTW Giuliani will skip this weekend's right wing religious panderfest (something Jerry Falwell's new best friend John "Desperado" McCain wouldn't dare do.) Maybe Rudy is afraid the saints will ask him about that marriage to his cousin...

Meanwhile, oh goodie! Ramesh Ponnuru has something to say about Rudy!

And more meat on that poll, please:

In hypothetical match-ups, registered voters picked Giuliani over Clinton, 50% to 48%, while Clinton trumped McCain, 50%-47% — all within the poll's margin of error of 3 percentage points. ...

...Age may work against the Arizona senator, a Vietnam War veteran. More than 40% of those polled said they would not vote for a "generally well-qualified person" for president who was 72 years old, which McCain will hit before the November 2008 election. And three times might not be a charm for Giuliani when it comes to his marriages: Nearly 30% won't punch their presidential ticket for someone who has hit the nuptials trifecta.

By contrast, only 5% said they would not vote for a candidates who was black. Gender, however, is a bigger barrier to the White House among some voters: 11% said they would not vote for a woman for president.

One thing is clear: John McCain is sinking, but fast. Giuliani is being set up as the front runner, but I still believe he will begin to crumble once McCain unleashes the dirty dogs of opposition research and attack advertising he hired from Dubya's 2000 campaign. Mitt Romney is in no position to save the GOP, and nobody knowss who Mike Hukabee and that other guy are.

Point: Democrats.

Technorati tags: 2008, barack obama, bill clinton, Democrats, Hillary Rodham Clinton, mitt romney, polls primaries Republicans rudy giuliani