Are the frontrunners beatable? Of course, but a rival will have to take it from them and the prospect that these two will somehow self-destruct is becoming less likely. Hillary can’t win the Democratic base because of her Iraq votes? Apparently she’s explained herself well enough. She’s not warm and fuzzy? Evidentially Democratic primary voters have warmed to her. On the GOP side, Rudy has too much baggage? Perhaps GOP voters with their own blended families and divorces have become less critical these days. He’s too liberal for the GOP? Maybe those debate performances and conservative themed Commitments are telling voters otherwise. Both of these candidates have worked hard, set up impressive campaign operations, improved their messaging, and gained confidence in debates and interactions with voters. Beating them is certainly possible but won’t be easy.
UPDATE: Looking at the actual poll rather than a story it appears that Rudy did not gain 3 pts from an equivalent poll a month ago(one with- out Gingrich) but held exactly even. With Gingrich in the race he has an 11 pt lead over Thompson. Without Gingrich he has a 12 pt. lead. The RCP average now shows a Giuliani lead of 9.4%.
