Clinton losing support among blacks, poll says

Hillary Clinton's support among black Democrats has cratered as racial politics emerged in the nomination fight and as Barack Obama's stock has risen, a new nationwide poll suggested yesterday.

Clinton trails Obama by 59 percent to 31 percent among African-Americans, according to the CNN/Opinion Research Poll. In October, Clinton led 57 percent to 31 percent. Since then, Obama, who is seeking to become the first black president, won the Iowa caucuses and he and Clinton have emerged as the front-runners for the Democratic nomination.

Clinton has been criticized in the last week by some African-American leaders for remarks they perceived as diminishing the accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr. She has sought to mend fences in recent days, and she and Obama called a truce during a debate on Tuesday night.

The poll did not find significant gaps among black Democrats on whether Clinton or Obama better understands the problems of blacks, or whether blacks would be better off if either were president.

Among all Democrats, Clinton still leads 42 percent to Obama's 33 percent, according to the CNN poll. John Edwards had 17 percent, and Dennis Kucinich 3 percent.

On the Republican side, the poll showed John McCain leading with 29 percent, Mike Huckabee had 20 percent, Mitt Romney 19 percent, Rudy Giuliani 14 percent, Fred Thompson 9 percent, and Ron Paul 6 percent.

The poll was conducted Monday through Thursday among 448 registered voters who describe themselves as Democrats and 377 registered voters who describe themselves as Republicans.

FOON RHEE

AUSTIN, Texas. - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg met privately yesterday with the ballot access specialist and campaign manager for H. Ross Perot's third-party presidential bid, a sign of the multibillionaire's seriousness about a possible independent run.

Bloomberg huddled over lunch with Clay Mulford, campaign manager for Perot, who ran in 1992 and 1996, according to an individual close to the mayor.

If Bloomberg wants a chance to win Texas's 34 electoral votes, he would need to collect about 74,100 signatures by May 12, and cannot begin circulating petitions here until March 5. Asked about the significance of being in Texas, Bloomberg seemed irritated and repeated his denial that he is running.

"I just said, I'm not a candidate - it couldn't be clearer," he said. "Which of the words do you not understand? People have urged me to do it, but I'm not a candidate."

Despite his public denials, Bloomberg is conducting a sophisticated analysis of voter data in all 50 states to better understand his chances as a third-party candidate. Aides have said he would delay a decision until after the major parties produce clear front-runners.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Why does Mitt Romney get hammered as a flip-flopper when other presidential candidates have also changed positions?

It's an excuse for people who actually don't like him because he's a Mormon, three political scientists argue.

"We find that of those who accuse Romney of flip-flopping, many admit it is Romney's Mormonism and not his flip-flopping that is the real issue," Brett Benson of Vanderbilt University said in a statement yesterday. "Our survey shows that 26 percent of those who accuse Romney of flip-flopping also indicate that Mormonism, not flip-flopping, is their problem with Romney."

Romney, seeking to become the first Mormon elected president, gave a much-ballyhooed speech last month on faith and politics to put voters' misgivings about his faith to rest.

But the political scientists said the poll suggests that criticizing Romney for flip-flopping is effective because it works with those who are genuinely concerned about Romney's shifts on abortion and other issues, and with those who do not want to vote for a Mormon for president.

FOON RHEE

WASHINGTON - The US Supreme Court yesterday allowed Texas to print presidential primary ballots without Democrat Dennis Kucinich's name.

The court refused to step into a dispute between Kucinich and the Texas Democratic Party over a loyalty oath to "fully support" the eventual nominee that all candidates must sign to make the ballot.

Kucinich crossed out the oath when he filed for a spot on the primary ballot, arguing it violated his First Amendment rights.

ASSOCIATED PRESS