A new national poll from Newsweek shows Sen. Hillary Clinton (Democrat-NY) leading Sen. John McCain (Republican-AZ) by a solid 7-point margin, 50% to 43%, in a 2008 match up.As far as I know, this is the first time Clinton has led McCain in any of the 2008 polling. And while I'm the first to admit that polling 23 months out doesn't mean a thing, one has to wonder whether McCain's call for troop increases in Iraq has caused a sudden trend toward a Democratic presidential ticket, or if this poll is just an outlier compared to others.
My hunch is this poll is the outlier. But it wouldn't surprise me in the least if independents and McCain-leaning Democrats strip the Arizona Senator of their support over his proposals on how to handle the Iraq War.
If things continue as they are, or (God forbid) they get worse, then McCain is toast. Either the Republicans will refuse to nominate him or the Democratic ticket will make mince meat of him in a general election. (Another four years of Bush-like failures will be the last thing this country will want.) However, if things start to improve in Iraq - and that improvement is due to increased troop levels - then this new Newsweek poll will probably be the best showing the Democrats will have against a McCain-led Republican ticket.
