Will Obama and Edwards Challenge Hillary Clinton--in November?

    Other than political pundits, excited bloggers, inside media moguls, and a few talk show hosts, most of the voters who will eventually participate in the Democratic and Republican primaries, early next year, are still in their "yawn" cycle.

    So why is Senator Hillary Clinton, so far ahead of everyone else, including Senator Barack Obama, and former VP candidate, John Edwards?

    The national political polls have her about 20 lengths ahead of Obama, with Edwards coming in third, and New Mexico Governor Richardson maintaining a respectable 4th, with limited funding, compared to the well known leader-board.

    The first reason, of course, is because the former First Lady, has incredible name recognition, and has the  inside troops to consistently schmooze journalists, who keep her in front of the public during the daily news cycle.

    When Obama or Edwards discuss health care, for example, they may get some air play, but when Hillary talks about it--the news is full of her fury--So the news producers give her plenty of time.

    But, for me, one of the disturbing reasons that Hillary is so far ahead, at this time, is because Barack Obama is not getting the political traction he needs.

    Senator Obama gets the large crowds and has raised more money than Mrs. Clinton, but yet, he is not a factor in the early polls.

    I'm not quite sure whether his problems are a result of a poorly constructed campaign staff, or just appearing a little too intellectual for the average voter.

    Some will say that it has to do with the color of his skin, but I would differ with that argument. It is the Democratic Primary and traditionally, it is the liberals of the party who come out and vote....so color should not be an issue...at least at this stage.

    I hate to say it, but I think he is running a poor campaign.  I can't quite put my finger on it yet, and I certainly would like to see him or Richardson as the front runners in this campaign---however, Obama must start moving up in the polls, sometime after October, or he is in for a really tough fight.

    As I have mentioned in much earlier posts, Senator Clinton has high negative polling ratings...and that will dampen the possibility, in my opinion, of bringing along a vast majority of Democrats in Congress, if she does receive the Democratic nomination in 2008.

    Obama, Edwards, Richardson, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, have much lower negatives, and I believe could win a large majority against almost any Republican next year.

    I have nothing against Mrs. Clinton, but my fear, along with a lot of other long time Democrats, is that she will be eaten alive by a combination of talk show hosts, the GOP, and independent committees, by the time election day shows up in November of 2008.

    Thanks for reading:

    Bob Kholos