(cross posted on The Stinging Nettle
http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com )
In addition to maintaining his lead in South Carolina, and gaining the endorsement of the SC Education Association, Edwards is moving up in the first two states.
As predicted in this space, Edwards is now third in NH, according to the latest poll. Dean is way ahead there at 37, with Kerry at 24. Edwards is at 9 - ahead of Clark, Lieberman and Gephardt. While the difference is within the MOE, the trend lines are clear. The Clark bubble has birst a bit, Lieberman is in freefall, and Edwards is rising slowly but surely.
In Iowa, Gephardt and Dean are neck and neck, and Edwards is breathing down Kerry's:
From the story linked above:
The Iowa survey was conducted Oct. 14-16 "among 435 people who said they were likely to attend precinct caucuses Jan. 19," by Survey USA and the poll had a margin of error of 4.8 percentage points:
Dick Gephardt 27%
Howard Dean 22%
John Kerry 15%
John Edwards 11%
Wesley Clark 11%
Joe Lieberman 4%
Other 7%
Undecided 3%
Damn tortoise, he keeps passing those poor rabbits when they take a nap!
Do you think the media will actually write a story about Edwards when he is in double digits and in third place in both states?? Will they finally stop writing "mired in the back of the pack." I doubt it. As the overly-enthusiastic but not entirely incorrect Susan Nunes continually writes on many many blogs, the media know that Edwards is the strongest General Election candidate against Bush. That's why they won't cover him.
But that's ok. The most effective attacks come in under the radar.