Barack Obama's failure to dissociate himself from his minister of hate hasn't hurt Obama in the close and nasty campaign against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination:
The latest Journal/NBC poll finds the Democratic rivals in a dead heat, each with 45% support from registered Democratic voters. That is a slight improvement for Obama from the last Journal/NBC poll two weeks ago, which had Hillary leading among Democratic voters, 47% to 43%.
Democratic pollster Peter Hart called the latest poll a "myth-buster" that showed the controversy over Obama's preacher of "profoundly distorted" views is "not the beginning of the end for the Obama campaign."
Hillary still leads among white Democrats, but her lead shrank to eight points (49% to 41%) from 12 points in early March (51% to 39%).
The poll was conducted a week after Obama delivered his damage control speech on race. I still think Obama is wrong to refuse to dissociate himself from Wright and that his refusal will hurt Obama should he win the Democratic nomination, but this poll suggests I'm wrong.
The negative campaign between Hillary and Obama seems to be hurting Hillary more than Obama. Fifty two percent all voters say Hillary doesn't have the background or values they identify with. Fifty percent say Obama does share their values, but 57% say that McCain does.
Hillary.Still Vote for Hillary Clinton
Posted by: kyt.miami | Friday, March 28, 2008 at 07:37 AM