The Latest From Iowa

By Neil the Ethical Werewolf

New Iowa primary poll from the Des Moines Register.  On the Democratic side, we've got Edwards at 29, Obama at 23, and Hillary at 21.  The Republicans are led by Romney at 30, with McCain at 18 and Giuliani at 17.  (When asked about candidates they'd like to see in the race, 48% of Republicans mention Gingrich while 45% mention Fred Thompson.  50% mention Condi Rice, who is about as likely to run in 2008 as Ronald Reagan.) 

As an Edwards supporter, I think it's better to see Obama in the #2 spot than to see Hillary there.  Matt Yglesias describes the dynamic that keeps labor -- and perhaps other Democratic groups -- from declaring against her:

As best I can tell, most labor people would prefer that she not be the nominee, but they're not going to do much of anything about it. They think, after all, that if she wins she'll need to be at least somewhat attentive to their concerns, but that if they tilt against her and she wins anyway, then they'll really be fucked.

Two points in a poll are a small thing (that's within the margin of error, anyway).  But in general, the more that happens to knock her off the front-runner's pedestal, the better.  I was quite happy when Obama surpassed her in Q1 primary fundraising, because the more that happens to remove the aura of inevitability from Hillary, the more likely Democratic groups are to make up their own minds and endorse the candidates they actually prefer, without fear.