Fred Thompson

After New Hampshire, should you believe the pollsters? The Reno Gazette-Journal  poll, conducted by Research 2000, has a new Nevada presidential caucus poll that shows Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in a statistical dead heat among likely Democratic caucus voters: Obama 32%, Clinton 30%. And John Edwards is in range with 27%.

On the Republican side, the poll has John McCain and Rudy Giuliani in also in a dead heat, with McCain leading 22%-18%. Mike Huckabee is at 16%, Mitt Romney is at 15%, Fred Thompson at 11%, Ron Paul at 6%, and Duncan Hunter at 1%.

The RGJ’s Anjeanette Damon has the new Research 2000 Nevada presidential caucus poll numbers. The survey, conducted January 11-13, has a 4.5 percent margin of error. The sample size is 500 likely Republican caucus voters and 500 likely Democratic caucus voters.  read more »

Another poll out today is showing Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee making dramatic gains in the state.

The poll, conducted by the Las Vegas Review Journal and Mason-Dixon, finds Huckabee in third place with 17% - up from the October survey, which found Huckabee in fifth place with 2%.  read more »

Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has virtually no organization in Nevada, is now in second place behind Mitt Romney

With virtually no campaign organization in Nevada, Mike Huckabee is now in a close race with Mitt Romney, surging to 23% iif the vote among likely Republican caucus participants, according to a new American Research Group has a new poll released today.

The poll has Romney, the former Governor of Massachusetts, leading Huckabee by a 29%-23 in Nevada, which has its presidential caucus in a little more than a month. That's a sharp uptick for the Governor of Arkansas, who had just 2% in an ARG poll in October.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is in third place with 17% of the vote -- a huge drop from the 31% he had two months ago when he and Romney were in a statistical dead heat.

On the Democratic side, the poll of likely party caucus goers shows New York Senator Hillary Clinton leading Illinois Senator Barack Obama 45% to 18%.  In the October poll Clinton received 51 percent and Obama received 11%.

 The new ARG poll shows former North Carolina Senator John Edwards picking up 14%. Delaware Senator Joe Biden and Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich trail with 4%.

As we noted Tuesday, John Zogby has released its latest Nevada poll with some interesting and unexpected results.

While the poll showed Hillary Clinton picking up 2 points that Barack Obama dropped since the April 12 poll and undecideds dropping by another 2 points, things on the Republican side revealed a far more volatile race. Rudy Giuliani and John McCain were the only two Republican candidates to lose support with Giuliani dipping 9 points, to McCain's 7. Fred Thompson and Ron Paul lead the Silver State gainers each increasing 6 points followed by Romney's 5 point and Mike Huckabee's 4 point gains with a 1 point increase in undecideds.

I meant to write about this several days ago but it was such a snoozer according to sources.
  The event would have been completely lacking excitement had it not been for the fact that it was held in a bar that features bikini bull riding.  He must have raised at least $10,000 - he charged $100 for breakfast which you know cost him $50, but anyone could attend for "free" to stand and hear the speech.

After announcing a massive one-day fundraising coup , Ron Paul (aka The Republican Dennis Kucinich) is doing what all good, red-blooded Americans do when they experience an unexpected financial windfall: packin’ up and heading to Vegas baby!

Paul will spend two days in Nevada trying to add to his now-bursting campaign piggy bank with fundraisers in Las Vegas and Reno as well as free rallies for the masses.

The most recent independent polling in October shows Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani leading in Nevada.

A Mason-Dixon poll conducted for the Las Vegas Review-Journal on October 9-11 shows Clinton leading Barack Obama 39%-21%, with the other candidates in single digits: John Edwards (9%), Bill Richardson (8%), Joseph Biden (2%), and Dennis Kucinich (1%). One in five voters (20%) remained undecided.

Giuliani led Fred Thompson by five percentage points (28%-23%), followed by Mitt Romney at 17%. John McCain was at 9%, Mike Huckabee and Duncan Hunter were both at 2%, and Ron Paul was at 1%. Among Republicans, 18% were undecided.

Fred Thompson, who made his first Nevada campaign stop on Thursday, appeared on Meet the Press this weekend: Getty Images Photo
Fred Thompson had harsh words for both Republicans and Democrats when he spoke at a state GOP fundraiser in Las Vegas on Thursday. Cheered on by a friendly and partisan audience, Thompson took a veiled swipe at fellow Republicans, saying that when his opponents called upon the legacy of Ronald Reagan “it’s usually being said by the man whose life is furthest from Ronald Reagan.”

Thompson’s appearance -- his first in Nevada since he formally entered the GOP presidential race in September -- came at a Nevada Republican Party breakfast held at Stoney’s Rockin’ Country, and sold out in part due to the actor’s undeniable star power. Appearances like these can be a great way for candidates to build goodwill among party activists by bringing in money for state party building.