Republican Strategist: “John Edwards is the One that Scares Me the Most”
Republicans see Democratic candidate John Edwards as the greatest threat in the 2008 presidential election according to Republican strategist, John Feehery, who was a top aide to former Speaker of the U.S. House Dennis Hastert.
When MSNBC host Tim Russert asked Feehery to assess the Democratic race for President, Feehery probably surprised many viewers by saying, “I think we (Republicans) would be very comfortable with either Hillary or Obama (as the Democratic Presidential nominee).”
“I think the one that scares me the most is Edwards,” Feehery said. Continuing Feehery said, “Edwards is the one that scares me the most--and that’s because he's a Southern Democrat and Southern Democrats are the ones that usually win.”
http://pull.xmr3.com/p/1-FF65/34931141/clickto1_12-10-poll.head.to.head-index.html
Story Quote: “Edwards performs best against each of the leading Republicans. In addition to beating Huckabee by 25 percent and McCain by 8 percent, the North Carolina Democrat beats Romney by 22 percentage points (59 percent to 37 percent).”
Here’s a chart of the relative performances of the Democratic candidates against the Republican Candidates:
(For all the poll results, see: http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2007/images/12/11/tue6ampoll.pdf
Edwards Wins All 4 ** Clinton Wins 3, Loses 1 ** Obama Wins 3, Ties 1
Edwards Clinton Obama
Huckabee Edwards +25 Clinton +10 Obama +15
Romney Edwards +22 Clinton +11 Obama +13
Giuliani Edwards +9 Clinton +6 Obama +7
McCain Edwards +8 McCain +2 Tie
From these numbers, it is easy to determine the relative general election strength of all the candidates:
The rankings would place Edwards in a strong first place with wins against all the Republican candidates and an average margin of victory of 16.5%.
Obama would rank second, and Clinton would rank as the third strongest general election candidate.
McCain, at fourth, with a loss to Edwards, a win over Clinton, and a tie with Obama, for an average loss margin of only 2%, would be by far the strongest general election candidate of the Republicans.
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