Monday Poll Filler: Clinton Not Looking Good

A little slow around here this morning. Here's a conversation starter:

It is a paradox of the 2008 presidential race. By a wide margin, several polls show, voters want a Democrat to win — yet when offered head-to-head contests of leading announced candidates, many switch allegiance to the Republican.

In a Los Angeles Times-Bloomberg poll conducted earlier this month, this dynamic was most clearly evident with Senator Clinton.

When registered voters were asked which party they would like to win the White House, they preferred a Democrat over a Republican by 8%. But in a race pitting Mrs. Clinton against Mayor Giuliani, a Republican, the former New York mayor was favored by 10%.

Mrs. Clinton's showing against Mr. Giuliani was the starkest example of how the general Democratic edge sometimes narrows or vanishes when voters are given specific candidates to choose between.

The poll also showed Mrs. Clinton trailing when matched against two other Republicans — Senator McCain of Arizona and a former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney.

It's really not a mystery, though, is it? The Democrats' generic message--which relies heavily on egalitarian sounding idealism--is appealing to a majority of the electorate. But, when Hillary Clinton is offered up as a candidate, the average voter is confronted with a candidate who became a multi-millionaire as the wife of a baggage-laden, career politician. Not exactly a model of feel-good, "everyman" equality.