Well, Well, Well...

Things certainly were not slow last week when I was out of town! Between the Bhutto assisination (more on that later) and ALL of the news out of Iowa it is hard to know where to start. I guess this is as good a place as any...

If the daily Rasmussen Presidential preference poll is any indication, the bloom is indeed off of the Huckabee rose. In the last 5 days before the Iowa caucuses, Huckabee has gone from 20% and the lead in Iowa to 16% and a tie for second (with Mitt Romney). In first place (surprisingly) is Senator John McCain with 17% and followed by Rudy Giuliani (15%) and Fred Thompson (12%). Thompson's numbers have remained pretty static since this time last month while the others have been riding a roller coaster worthy of any amusement park. This tells me that the voters that are not pre-committed to any candidate are still looking for a candidate to represent them. This could bode well for Thompson.

While Rasmussen still shows a huge lead from Senator Clinton on the Democrats side, the Real Clear Politics poll averages show a much closer race - a slim 2% lead over Obama and Edwards. The RCP averages also show a different race on the Republican side with Romney leading by a slim .4 percent over Huckabee and McCain and Thompson slugging it out for third place.

What do I take from all of this.....first and foremost is to take the polling data with a very large grain of salt! As I have long said, polling data can and is manipulated on a daily basis. Wait to see what the voting says! Second is that the 2008 race to nomination is getting more and more interesting every day and THAT is going to get more people involved in the process and that is a very good thing indeed.