It's looking more and more like McCain...

REVIEW & OUTLOOK
Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy
January 25, 2008; Page A14

The Democratic epiphany about the political tactics of Bill and Hillary Clinton continues, with scales falling from eyes on a daily basis. "I think it's not Presidential," said former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, about Mr. Clinton's steady barrage against Barack Obama. "It's not in keeping with the image of a former President, and I'm frankly surprised that he is taking this approach." Mr. Daschle supports Mr. Obama, but how he could be surprised is another matter.

"This is beneath the dignity of a former President. He is not helping anyone, and certainly not helping the Democratic Party," added Vermont Senator Pat Leahy. On the point of "helping" the party, Mr. Leahy seems to have forgotten that the Clinton Presidency was an era of more or less persistent Democratic losses -- except for the Clintons.

Then there's former South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Dick Harpootlian, who once backed Bill Clinton but this week called his political attacks "reprehensible" and described one of Mrs. Clinton's TV ads about Mr. Obama as "a lie." As Mrs. Clinton likes to say, she's had "16 years" of experience in dealing with this "Republican attack machine."

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McCain Gets Edge for Electability
As Primary Moves Along,
Republican Voters Face
Question of Who Can Win
By ALEX FRANGOS and ELIZABETH HOLMES
January 25, 2008; Page A4

The leading Republican presidential candidates all claim to be the best-suited to overcome the Democratic tide expected in the general election. But opinion polls clearly favor Arizona Sen. John McCain in that regard.

In the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, 37% of respondents said Mr. McCain has the best chance to win in November against the Democrats. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was far back in second, with 16%, followed closely by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani at 15% and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 12%. Those results are mirrored in other polls.

Mr. McCain also did the best in hypothetical matchups with the two leading Democrats. The poll shows him beating New York Sen. Hillary Clinton by 46% to 44% and tying against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama with 42% support. Messrs. Romney, Giuliani and Huckabee all lose handily in polling matchups with Sens. Clinton and Obama. Statistically, the results are about the same -- a dead heat -- whether Mr. McCain's opponent is Sen. Clinton or Sen. Obama because the poll has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

Many Republican primary voters face a quandary this year: Whether to choose the candidate they like best or the one they think has the best shot against a formidable Democratic opponent in November.

"We have got to figure out who's the most electable. That's the hard part," said Ron Dahlstrom, a 67-year-old retiree living in Naples, Fla., who says he hasn't decided on a candidate. The self-described religious conservative likes Mr. Huckabee, but says the Baptist preacher is too religious to get elected. That leaves him undecided between Messrs. Romney and McCain. "Anybody but Hillary," he said Tuesday.

The electabilty quotient is a growing concern for voters as the campaign heats up in Florida. That represents a change for the Republican Party. In recent elections, Republicans have either had an incumbent or an anointed front-runner who gained momentum early, such as George W. Bush in 2000 or Bob Dole in 1996. This year, Republicans are the underdogs, with an unpopular sitting president and facing a possible economic recession.

"A lot of Republicans are looking for who can win," Mr. McCain said yesterday after an event in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Mr. McCain released an Internet advertisement yesterday that will appear on the Web sites of Florida newspapers. It's called "Democrats' Worst Nightmare." The ad says Democrats "fear John McCain most because he's the one candidate who can rally the conservative Reagan Coalition while appealing to independent voters to win in November."

That type of message resonates with McCain supporter Bob Freid of Boynton Beach, Fla. The retired dentist, 67, said yesterday that Mr. McCain is "the candidate that can beat the illustrious Democrats."

"He can work with anybody," Mr. Freid said, explaining Mr. McCain's appeal to independents.

Eric Fehrnstrom, a Romney spokesman, didn't address his candidate's performance in head-to-head polling with Democrats. "The Republican who beats the Democrat in November will be the candidate who can most effectively make the case that he will bring change to Washington and provide leadership on the economy," Mr. Fehrnstrom said.

Mr. Romney's electability pitch is based on his status as a Washington outsider. Earlier this month in New Hampshire, he decried sending the "same faces" back to Washington in "different chairs."

Mr. Romney also says his two wins in Michigan and Nevada are harbingers for wins in those swing states in November. "If you can win those two states, Michigan and Nevada, it means you put together quite the coalition and have been able to make the kind of inroads you have to make to take the White House," he said Saturday in Florida.
[Electable]

Mr. Giuliani, who needs to do well in Florida to lift his flagging status nationally, also has his supporters concerned about November. Don Jaffin, a 77-year-old living in Florida, is leaning toward Mr. Giuliani because he will "get down in the dirt with Hillary, which would be the dirtiest campaign in American history," he said after a Romney event Tuesday at the Republican Jewish Coalition of Florida. "I'll tell you who I'm for. I'm for whoever can beat Hillary."

Charlie Black, one of Mr. McCain's top advisers, doesn't think most voters are overly strategic. "Very few people vote on electability," he said yesterday. Exit polls in South Carolina, for instance, showed only 6% ranked the ability to win in November above three other choices: values, shared beliefs, and experience.

That fact doesn't prevent Mr. Black from taking Mr. Romney's electability pitch down a notch. "Romney has a poor case to make on that," he said, noting that Mr. Romney tends to have higher negative ratings than Mr. McCain and does worse in head-to-head matchups against Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. "If I were him, I'd change the subject."

Write to Alex Frangos at alex.frangos@wsj.com and Elizabeth Holmes at elizabeth.holmes@wsj.com