Presidential Power Rankings # 19

May 9, 2007

Don't tell Minister Farrakhan that this is number 19!

Democrats:

1. Hillary Rodham Clinton (1)
2. Barack Obama (2)
3. John Edwards (3)
4. Al Gore (4)
5. Joe Biden (5)
6. Bill Richardson (6)
7. Chris Dodd (7)
8. Dennis Kucinich (8)
9. Mike Gravel (9)
10. Wesley Clark (10)

No changes this week. Unlike the Republicans, the Democrats are afraid to go on a cable network for a debate so things may be stuck here for a bit.

Republicans:


1. John McCain (3)
2. Mitt Romney (2)
3. Rudy Giuliani (1)
4. Fred Thompson (4)
5. Mike Huckabee (7)
6. Sam Brownback (6)
7. Tommy Thompson (5)
8. Duncan Hunter(9)
9. Newt Gingrich (8)
10. Ron Paul(10)

Several changes this week, due in large part to the debate on MSNBC from the Reagan Library.

It was a tough debate for Giuliani, who is also being hampered this week by the abortion issue. McCain got better reviews in the debate and is ahead of Giuliani in a couple key early states. Romney probably had the best debate reviews and is now even showing in first place in a Survey USA poll from New Hampshire. At this point though, McCain is still far better known nationally than Romney and is a stronger candidate in some key states. While I still expect Romney to have a very good shot at winning the nomination, and am very pleased with the progess of his campaign over the past couple weeks, at this point, I have to move McCain into the number one slot.

It was perhaps an even more frustrating debate for Tommy Thompson, who after a brief stint at number five, has fallen once again behind Huckabee and Brownback. Duncan Hunter moves up a spot to number eight based on a fairly decent debate performance, while conventional wisdom holds that the more likely Fred Thompson is to run for President, the less likely Gingrich will be.

Gilmore was decent in the debate, but did not do enough to merit jumping into the top ten while Tancrdo's performance probably disappointed even his staunchest supporters.