The pollster who must not be ignored, Scott Rasmussen, has produced a couple of doozies today. In his daily presidential tracking poll, Rasmussen shows Mike Huckabee surpassing Mitt Romney for the first time nationally. Huckabee now sits at 12 percent while Romney is at 11 percent. Although Huckabee’s lead over Romney is a single, slender percentage point and could be the product of statistical noise, the result unmistakably heralds Huckabee’s arrival into the top tier – as have the numerous attack pieces that popped up this week targeting the latest man from Hope. Also noteworthy is how compressed the now five-man top tier has become. Only nine points separate the frontrunning Giuliani from the fifth place Romney. Perhaps more interesting and more relevant to who will eventually get the prize is Rasmussen’s latest New Hampshire poll. According to the pollster, Mitt Romney has “reasserted his lead” in the Granite State, extending his lead to nine percentage points from the three-point lead he held in September. So what does it all mean? Romney still has not gained traction in the national polls, but he’s looking more solid than ever in the early states. If the early states still matter, Romney’s where he wants to be. For what it’s worth, I think the compressed campaign schedule makes New Hampshire and Iowa more important than ever, but that’s far from a universally held sentiment. As for Huckabee, he has advanced to the point where he will get a serious look from voting Republicans. Given that he started with no money and no standing, that in itself is quite a feat.
