By staff writers and wires
January 22, 2007 07:40am
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SENATOR Hillary Clinton holds a large early lead over other candidates in the race for the Democratic US presidential nomination, according to a national poll.

The former First Lady was the top choice for 41 per cent of the Democrats polled, The Washington Post reported today.

That was more than double the 17 per cent, second-place rating scored by Illinois Senator Barack Obama.

Former Senator John Edwards, the 2004 vice presidential nominee, placed third at 11 per cent, with former Vice President Al Gore at 10 per cent.

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, the 2004 presidential nominee, came in at 8 per cent.

The poll was taken before Sen Clinton announced her candidacy at the weekend. Sen Obama entered the race last week and Mr Edwards jumped in last month.

The Post said hypothetical general election match-ups of Sen Clinton and top Republican candidates gave her a narrow lead over Arizona Senator John McCain.

She was "running about even" with former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Sen Clinton didn't mince words yesterday as she announced she was running for the White House, saying simply: "I'm in."

If she were to win in 2008, the White House would have been in just two families' hands for nearly a quarter of a century.

George Bush won office in 1998. Sen Clinton's husband Bill Clinton won in 1992 and then George W. Bush, son of the first president Bush, won in 2000.

While the US is a country of 300 million with enormous cultural diversity, political dynasties are a fact of life. Name recognition and a well-worn list of campaign donors give incumbents and their families an advantage.

Some are calling it a new aristocracy. President Bush even jokes about Bill Clinton being his father's other son - the two former presidents have grown close, particularly after their work as joint ambassadors to help co-ordinate relief in South East Asia after the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.

But the first thing Senator Clinton did yesterday was to put as much distance as possible between herself and Mr Bush.

"The stakes will be high when America chooses a new president in 2008," Senator Clinton said.

"As a senator, I will spend two years doing everything in my power to limit the damage George W. Bush can do. But only a new president will be able to undo Bush's mistakes and restore hope and optimism."

Her campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe predicted a rough campaign.

"She is going to fight for herself and she is going to have people around her who will fight," he said.

"They are going to play mean, nasty and dirty on the other side. You don't walk into a knife fight without adequate gloves."

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, another Democrat, is expected to declare he is running today. Republican Sam Brownback also announced his candidacy yesterday.

With Reuters and The Australian


*****

"You don't walk into a knife fight without adequate gloves." How does a campaign manager get to mix his metaphors so badly?

Pimping my site, again.

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