Below The Beltway

Matt Drudge is headlining this story from the Des Moines Register about the results of a poll of Iowa Democrats:

Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina leads a list of potential Democratic presidential candidates while Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack holds fourth place, trailing Edwards by 20 points in an early test of support among likely Iowa caucus participants.

A new Iowa Poll conducted for The Des Moines Register shows that Edwards, the runner-up in the Iowa Democratic caucuses two years ago and a frequent visitor to the state since then, is the choice of 30 percent of Iowans who say they are likely to take part in the January 2008 caucuses.

U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York follows on Edwards’ heels with 26 percent in the Iowa Poll.

Experts say it’s the first poll showing anyone besides Clinton as the preferred Democrat in the race for the White House.

As reported in The Fix, the Washington Post’s Politics blog, this may not be that big of a surprise:

On one level, the results of the Register poll aren’t terribly surprising. Edwards finished a strong second behind Kerry in the 2004 Iowa caucuses and has never shut down his operation there. (Several top Edwards aides in Iowa are currently involved this year in Secretary of State Chet Culver’s gubernatorial campaign.) Since leaving office in 2004, Edwards has visited the state regularly to keep that network active — he spent Sunday campaigning for Bruce Braley, the Democratic nominee in the 1st congressional district, and he is scheduled to help raise money for Culver today.

In addition, Edwards’s high-profile apology last year for his 2002 vote in favor of the use-of-force resolution against Iraq was an act of contrition that played well with liberal, anti-war activists that traditionally vote in large numbers in the Iowa caucuses.

Clinton, by contrast, has sought the middle ground on the Iraq war, refusing to apologize for her “yes” vote on the use of force resolution or propose a timetable or deadline for American troops to withdraw from Iraq. Clinton also has not visited Iowa this year, careful to stay true to her pledge to focus all of her energy on winning a second Senate term in the fall.

It is interesting though, and a sign that the race for the 2008 Democratic nomination may not be the cake walk some of Hillary’s supporters thought it would be.

Update: Brendan Loy makes this point about the Iowa results:

Perhaps Iowans have learned from their costly 2004 error, and they don?t want to pick a poisonous, unelectable, sure-loser nominee in two straight elections!

Perhaps, another thing that it may indicate is that the way to beat Hillary for the 2008 nomination may be to run to her left. The problem I see for any potential Hillary challenger is that she? will no doubt recognize this and shift her rhetoric towards the left in order to cater to the Demoratic base. And she’ll have a ton of money backing her. Unless the people with the money in Democratic politics unite behind a true challenger, and I don’t think John Edwards is that person, she is going to be tough to beat.