Analysis: How McCain Could Still Win

Analysis: How McCain Could Still Win

A year ago, he was the odds-on favorite to be the Republican presidential nominee in 2008. Today, he's considered a long shot.

His campaign has rebounded from a near implosion in the summer, but in these crucial weeks before the first balloting in January in Iowa, John McCain has been eclipsed by the emergence of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as a serious contender, the Mitt Romney religion speech and recent Romney-Rudy Giuliani verbal fracas. Yet political analysts say do not count the Arizona senator out yet.

"If that's how Republicans decide, they may come back to him and decide 'Well, I rejected him six months ago, but he looks like the best of the lot now.'"

It will not be easy for McCain to pull off, but there are scenarios — for McCain a "perfect storm" of events breaking his way, according to some pundits — in which he could still wrest the GOP nomination away from his rivals.

One of them goes something like this: Huckabee wins the Iowa caucus Jan. 3 and Romney finishes second. McCain is running far behind in Iowa and barely campaigning there.

A Romney win could propel him to victory in New Hampshire where he now leads McCain in the polls, so, for McCain, it is critical that Romney be stopped in Iowa. A Huckabee win in Iowa would be a huge setback for Romney, who has invested time and money — lots of money — into winning there followed by New Hampshire for an early one-two punch that would ignite his campaign.

Meanwhile, McCain has been concentrating instead on New Hampshire, which holds the first primary five days after Iowa.

Personally i think he has no chance of coming because of his attitude. People will not vote for a jerk. Thats what I think

Hillary Clinton gets personal as Barack Obama inches ahead

Hillary Clinton gets personal as Barack Obama inches ahead

Hillary Clinton has been forced to take the biggest gamble of her presidential campaign by launching personal attacks on her main rival, Barack Obama, in Iowa, a state famous for its dislike of negative tactics.

With less than a month before the crucial first nominating contest in Iowa, Mrs Clinton has dramatically changed course against a resurgent Mr Obama by questioning his character and honesty, a new strategy that rival campaigns believe could backfire.

A series of recent polls in Iowa show Mr Obama gaining momentum in the state and for the first time opening up a small lead over Mrs Clinton. He has also erased her once-clear advantage among women voters and blue-collar households and is exploiting lingering doubts that Mrs Clinton is too polarising a figure to win a general election.

Mrs Clinton said that after being criticised for weeks by Mr Obama and John Edwards, the other strong challenger in Iowa, “you cannot just absorb it”. She added later: “We’re into the last month and we’re going to start drawing a contrast.” On the campaign trail in Iowa over the past 48 hours she has accused Mr Obama of offering “false hopes” and of not telling the truth about his health insurance plan.

Asked if she was raising questions about his character, she replied: “It’s beginning to look a lot like that. It really is.” Last night her campaign accused Mr Obama’s staff of dirty tricks in Iowa by directing people to bogus locations for the January 3 caucuses. Bill Burton, Mr Obama’s spokesman, said: “This flat-out falsehood is the latest attack in a silly season where our opponents have promised to stop at nothing in an effort to tarnish Barack Obama’s character.”

It's unfair to criticize a person about their personal life. Leave them alone it's their life and it's none of your business. As long as they do a good job in office and get what needs to get done get off their back.