With the big vote this coming Tuesday, polling takes on some gravitas at this point.
Wall Street Journal/NBC has Trump leading in New Hampshire with 30%.
Rubio, 17.
Cruz, 15.
Kasich, 10.
Bush, nine.
Christie, four.
Carson, four.
Fiorina, two.
CNN has it:
Trump, 29.
Rubio, 18.
Cruz, 13.
Kasich, 12.
Bush, 10.
Christie, four.
Fiorina, four.
Carson, two.
On the Democratic side:
CNN: Sanders, 61; Clinton, 30.
NBC: Sanders, 58; Clinton, 38.
It should be noted that the new Boston Globe poll has it closer, Sanders ahead by nine points.
Now I expect Donald Trump to win the New Hampshire primary but the surge of Marco Rubio is worth noting.
No question the Iowa vote helped him.
Ted Cruz continues to campaign energetically. So do Kasich, Bush, and Christie.
Possible, not probable, there will be a surprise in New Hampshire.
On the Dem side, Bernie Sanders is running strong. Don't ask me why. Nobody can quite figure out why voters in the "live free or die" state want a socialist to become president.
Last night, it was very entertaining watching Bernie at the debate saying what he always says:
"The billionaires are running the country!"
"The economy is rigged!"
"I will stop that!"
On the other side Hillary Clinton was Hillary Clinton.
You either like her or you don't.
On that subject, Quinnipiac did a national poll pitting Sanders and three Republicans against Mrs. Clinton.
She's ahead of Sanders 44-42, but that's a tie with the margin of error factor.
She beats Donald Trump 46-41.
She ties Ted Cruz 45-45 but she loses to Marco Rubio 48-41.
Talking Points has said it before and Ed Henry's reporting backs it up: The Clinton campaign does not want to run against Senator Rubio.
For all you partisans out there, that is not an insult to any of the other Republican contenders. It is simply a fact.
Yesterday, on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, Donald Trump was his typical flamboyant self:
TRUMP: "We're going to have businesses that used to be in New Hampshire, that are now in Mexico come back to New Hampshire and you can tell them to go f*** themselves. (Applause)"
In all my years of reporting that is the first time I have seen a Presidential candidate make use of the "f" word while campaigning.
Trump is unique.
And that's the memo.
