Another Clinton Supporter Defects to Obama

The race really is underway. Going into 2007 the conventional wisdom was that Hillary Clinton and John McCain were strong front runners for their party’s nominations. While changes in position at this point mean little, Rudy Giuliani has slipped ahead of McCain for the GOP nomination for now. Hillary remains well ahead for the Democratic nomination, but Obama continues to show signs he might be able to make it a race. Robert Novak now reports another defection to Obama:

Greg Craig, a Washington super-lawyer with close ties to the Clintons, is supporting Sen. Barack Obama for President.

Craig was a White House special counsel defending President Bill Clinton in the Senate impeachment trial. A partner in the Williams & Connolly law firm founded by the legendary Edward Bennett Williams, Craig served as an adviser to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

In confirming to this column his Presidential preference, Craig called Obama unique and added: “I’ve never seen anyone who has made the impact on people and on me.” He said he was impressed with Obama when he first met him at the home of investment banker Vernon Jordan, an intimate friend and supporter of the Clintons.

Of course all the usual disclaimers apply. Polls this far out have often had little predictive value. Even in tightly contested races, results in the first one or two contests can totally change the race, as we saw with John Kerry’s comeback victory in 2004. With so many states moving their primaries up in 2008 it is difficult to predict if wins in the first couple of contests will again be decisive, or if the increased early campaigning will give the victory to whoever has the strongest national campaign nation wide going into 2008 regardless of how the early small states vote.

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