Decision 2008: Presidential Power Rankings #35

Sorry about the 2 week break from these rankings:

Republicans:

1st: Rudy Giuliani (steady) Gaining in early states and still holds on to a narrow national lead over Fred Thompson. Giuliani's didn't get a bounce out of 9/11 and he shouldn't have. Mr. Giuliani don't use a tragedy to spark your campaign.

2nd Tied: Fred Thompson (rising) New national polls have Fred Thompson nearly tied with Giuliani, probably a bounce from his announcement last week. It will surely die down soon.

2nd Tied: Mitt Romney (steady) Still leads in Iowa and NH, but Romney is slowly losing ground in alll 3. Dont expect the other candidates to let him cruise to the nomination.

4th: John McCain (rising) After the FOX debate McCain is riding on his biggest bounce since his campaign fell apart. All rumors of him dropping out after his funds are matched have died and he is considered a major candidate again. New National polls show him in single digits of the lead and NH and SC polls are brightening for him.

5th: Mike Huckabee (rising) Iowa polls all show him in 3rd or 4th keeping him a viable darkhorse candidate. If one of the 4 major candidates fall a part Huckabee could talk his place.

Democrats:

1st: Hillary Clinton (rising) Hillary rises to the top by wider margins than before. Now leading by 20 points nationally. If she picks up leads in Iowa and strengthens her lead in South Carolina she could very easily clinch the nomination before Super Tuesday.

2nd: Barack Obama (falling) The Hillary train is leaving him at the station will huge leads nearly everywhere. Obama is dropping out of attention as Hillary centers news and the GOP race takes the news.

3rd: John Edwards (falling) Edwards has lost steam in Iowa even though he is rising with Al Gore certainly not running in 2008 as several expected. Edwards is also seeing Hillary pass right by him in his all important Iowa.

4th: Bill Richardson (steady) His bounce has halted and he slips to the high single digits in most polls. He leads the 2nd tier of candidates, but it doesn't seem he can crack the doe to get into the top tier. Richardson seems to be vying for Hillary's VP.

5th: Joe Biden (steady) Doing everything he can to keep his near dead campaign alive. Biden is expected to quit after the 1st primaries and campaign for re-election.