The National Journal polled Democratic and Republican insiders back in December and again more recently asking each group which of the other party’s candidates for President they feared the most. The results are quite interesting.
First the Republicans the Democrats fear:
Rudy Giuliani: 39% (12%)
Mitt Romney: 20% (11%)
John McCain: 17% (73%)
Chuck Hagel: 9% (0%)
Fred Thompson: 9% (0%)
Mike Huckabee: 2% (1%)
Tommy Thompson: 1% (0%)
Don’t know (volunteered): 3% (3%)
The number in parentheses is the result from December. Two things are interesting here. First of all, back in December John McCain was clearly the Republican that Democrats worried about the most, now he’s third in line behind Giuliani and Romney. Second, Fred Thompson, who hasn’t announced he’s running and has only been mentioned as a candidate for about a month now, is already on the Democrats’ radar.
Now the Republican’s concerns are a little more obvious:
Hillary Clinton: 43% (53%)
John Edwards: 20% (5%)
Barack Obama: 17% (14%)
Bill Richardson: 10% (0%)
Al Gore: 8% (5%)
Don’t know: 2% (1%)
Hillary, although not as much as in December, clearly remains the Democrat Republicans fear the most. What’s interesting is the rise of John Edwards. Outside of the cancer issue that came up last week, he’s pretty much been sailing under the radar and allowing Hillary and Obama to duke it out.
