Reading the polls

Sifting through all the new polls that came out today confirms several ways to handicap the presidential race.

Mike Huckabee is the primary challenger to Mitt Romney in the Republican caucus in Iowa. Polls released by KCCI TV and American Research Group put Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, in second place, on the heels of Romney, who has been leading in Iowa for months.

The Democratic caucus in Iowa is up for grabs. Those same two surveys show Hillary Clinton in the lead, but followed closely by John Edwards and Barack Obama, who are trying to pierce her aura of inevitability by beating her in the Hawkeye State.

And Rudy Giuliani and John McCain would fare best in a hypothetical matchup next year with Clinton, at least in the overall popular vote. A Fox News survey said Clinton would beat McCain 46 percent to 45 percent and Giuliani 47 percent to 43 percent. Clinton would beat Romney and Thompson more handily.

"It is impossible to ignore the fact that John McCain is cementing his position as the best candidate to defeat Hillary Clinton," campaign manager Rick Davis said in a statement highlighting several recent polls.