Decision 2008: Presidential Power Rankings #42

End or the Month Rankings:


Republicans:


1st: Mitt Romney (falling) The beginning of the drop that was expected to happen to Romney is finally happening. Primary Voters and Caucus Goers always take 2nd looks to frontrunners and aren't usually kind. With 49% undecided in Iowa, its anyone's game, and Huckabee is coming on strong.


2nd: Rudy Giuliani (falling) New Iowa polls show Giuliani in a distant 4th and 5th with McCain and Paul even surging ahead. In New Hampshire it seems Giuliani is slowly dropping and may leave it between Romney or McCain. He seems to be relying on a landslide victory in Florida on Jan. 29th, which polls suggest. However will his lead there hold with 4 loses especially if Romney wins them all?


3rd Tied: Mike Huckabee (rising) Huckabee surges ahead in Iowa, according to Rasmussen and that has surged his polls to 3rd and 4th in NH and within striking distance of the lead in South Carolina. If he wins Iowa Huckabee could surprise us all and steal the nomination away.


3rd Tied: John McCain (steady) McCain held a strong performance at the CNN Youtube Debates and recent NH polls show him within striking distance of Romney, howver others show a Romney landslide. That could all change in 1 month. McCain needs a win in NH in order to continue.


5th: Fred Thompson (falling) Fred does get 14% and 15% in Iowa and South Carolina but that still leaves him in a distant 3rd and 4th in both states and his lazy campaign and organization in those states may surge another candidate to win in those states. New Hampshire Polls have him at 2-3% with even Congressman Ron Paul leading him.


6th: Ron Paul (rising) Alot has changed from our last End of the Month rankings. Paul has shot to 6th from 8th. New New Hampshire and other Ealry Contest Polls show him at all time highs of 6-10%. He may make something of this campaign. He wont win the nomination, however he certainly is surprising us all.


7th: Duncan Hunter (steady) Hunter has the experience, but not the poll numbers. He will be another also-ran.


8th: Tom Tancredo (steady) His early state visits have lagged recently and he seems to slowly be abandoning his presidential run for his re-election bid to the U.S. House.


9th: Alan Keyes (falling) He isn't invited to any debats and many forget he was a strong candidate in 2000. If Hunter and Tancredo get to go, Keyes should as well.


10th: John Cox (steady) Making head-way for an Illionis Businessman and a complete unknown with no political experience. Getting on the NH and SC ballots helped, but he didn't comethrough with a debate performance.


Democrats


1st: Hillary Clinton (falling) with Bill's mistakes on the war and flip flops on issues herself Hillary has also been hurt by the voters taking a 2nd look at the frontrunner. Her lead in Iowa has vanished and 3 polls have Obama ahead and Edwards catching. She could survive a 2nd but how would a 3rd place go, which silenced Once Dem. Frontrunner Howard Dean.

2nd: Barack Obama (rising) Obama has come on strong in Iowa, and a win there could give him the momentum needed to win the nomination. Clinton doesn't have the nomination locked up yet. Obama however must win or else its over.

3rd: John Edwards (steady) Still in a close 3rd in Iowa. He was able to pull an upset in Iowa 4 years ago, so he might be able to pull something out of this race.

4th Tied: Bill Richardson (falling) His numbers are poor everywhere, he will likely get 4th places in most states with maybe a few 3rds.

4th Tied: Joe Biden (rising) Biden seems to be coming on strong against Richardson, but way to far from the top. He might have to quit soon to campaign for re-election or go for Secrtary of State.

6th: Chris Dodd (falling) Not making headway anyway. He averages at 1% and could very well come dead last in some primaries and caucuses.

7th: Dennis Kucinich (steady) Kucinich sure is making hype about his campaign, however not enough to win the nomination. He'll finish last erveywhere, well I guess ahead of Gravel.

8th: Mike Gravel (steady) Sure to come in dead last. He isn't invited to anymore debates and no one covers his campaign. Its likely he will not even get 1% in any state.