Republicans, Belay Your Panic…

Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson have both rebounded in Rasmussen's head-to-head polling versus Hillary Clinton. Two weeks ago, Hillary Clinton was leading both Republicans in Rasmussen's results. This week, they're again neck and neck and neck (survey conducted October 22-23)…

• Rudy Giuliani 46%
• Hillary Clinton 44%

• Fred Thompson 45%
• Hillary Clinton 47%

Because a dead-heat is most consistent with long-term trends observed thus far, Rasmussen's analysts suggest that statistical fluctuation between samples is the most likely explanation for Clinton's pull ahead and the Giuliani/Thompson rebound, rather than anything the candidates have said or done.

Interestingly, according to another Rasmussen result, Giuliani is also running neck-and-neck with John Edwards, while Thompson trails him by a significant margin (survey conducted October 24-25)…

• Rudy Giuliani 45%
• John Edwards 44%

• Fred Thompson 39%
• John Edwards 48%

The Edwards/Giuliani numbers being so close to the Clinton/Giuliani numbers might mean that Giuliani is winning supporters without the benefit of a huge anti-Hillary vote, or it might mean that something about Edwards' style of campaigning is driving his negatives as high as Clinton's are.

The combined results from all the above match-ups suggest that there's about 5 percent of the electorate a) who haven't decided how they would vote in a non-Giuliani versus Clinton race, but have decided b) that they will vote for Giuliani, if he is the Republican nominee, and c) that they will vote for any Republican, if Clinton is the Democratic nominee.