Saturday, December 17, 2005

Insiders Higher on Romney

My anonymous source in Washington clued me into the newest version of the National Journal's 2008 Republican Insiders Poll. This time, they asked 100 Republican insiders -- Congressmen and other political types -- to rank potential candidates' chances of winning their party's presidential nomination. I commented on the April edition of the insiders poll, where our favorite Governor, Mitt Romney ranked fifth. This time, the gov jumped up to third, behind Senators George Allen and John McCain. Here are the top ten on the Republican side, according to those inside the Beltway, from the poll (PDF):

RankCandidatePointsFirst-Place Votes
1.George Allen365(39)
2.John McCain337(38)
3.Mitt Romney168(4)
4.Rudy Giuliani149(7)
5.Bill Frist93(1)
6.Haley Barbour92(0)
7.Condoleezza Rice61(4)
8.George Pataki39(2)
9.Newt Gingrich37(0)
10.Chuck Hagel35(1)
Notice, however, that Romney jumped up in rank even though his point total actually decreased slightly from the last time. I think a lot of that might have to do with Senator Bill Frist's falling stock more than anything Romney himself has done. Hopefully, this won't all go to the Governor's head. The National Journal also reports that the most recent polling of Republicans voters has Mitt clocking in at a whopping 2% -- just below "Other" and "None". Here's what one insider had to say about the Governor:
"Regardless of his record, our base will wonder what in the heck he had to do to become governor of the Kennedy-Dukakis state."
The National Journal also polled Democratic insiderts, and among them the Bay State's other 2008 Presidential contender, Senator John Kerry, fared less well, dropping from fifth last time to eighth in this incarnation of the poll. Predictably, among the insiders, Senator Hillary Clinton towers over the rest of the Democratic field.