News-Record.com

New polling from Zogby out today confirms a lot of the polling others had going into this week. From a release this afternoon:

Among likely-voting Democrats, Clinton also enjoys strength with 36% support, compared to 24% for Obama and 20% for Edwards. Among independents who said they were likely to vote in the Democratic primary, Obama enjoys 34% backing, compared to 26% support for Clinton and 21% for Edwards. Independent voters are important in New Hampshire because they can vote in either the Republican or Democratic primary.

Basically, NY Sen. Hillary Clinton is holding steady while Ill. Sen. Barack Obama appears to have picked up a couple points over the past two weeks, maybe due to his win in Iowa. Edwards has held at 20 percent for a while, no matter what group of Dems are polled.

On the Republican side, Arizona Sen. John McCain has picked up ground in tracking polls. Huckabee seems to be edging up in New Hampshire while Romney is holding steady but in second place. From the release:

McCain's lead continues to be based on the strength of support among independents, where he holds a 42% to 29% over Romney, with no other Republican winning more than 10% support among this group. Among moderates, McCain's edge dropped from 53% support to 48% support after yesterday's polling was added to the Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby three-day rolling average, while while Romney also lost some ground, dropping from 24% to 22%. Meanwhile, Romney's edge over McCain among mainline conservatives - the largest voting bloc in the GOP - increased from one to five points.

Huckabee's bounce from the Iowa victory comes among those who consider themselves "very conservative," where he jumped from 21% to 28% when just yesterday's post-Iowa caucus polling is folded into the mix. However, Romney still leads in the category with 33% support. McCain wins 20% among the very conservative.

How is this playing out on the ground? From an Associated Press story detailing the day on teh stump:

Edwards, who narrowly edged Clinton for second place in Iowa, tried to turn the New Hampshire contest into a two-man race.

"There will be two change agents" on the ballot Tuesday and at Saturday's televised debate, said Edwards, dismissing Clinton as a member of the status quo.

Edwards told reporters he is more able than Obama to achieve change because of his years battling corporations as a personal injury lawyer. He said when dealing with oil, pharmaceutical and insurance companies, "I don't think you can nice them to death."

Asked if Obama, a former constitutional law professor, is too nice, Edwards replied: "I'm suggesting we have a battle and a fight on our hands" to improve life for working class families.

Obama responded to critics by arguing that people also said Abraham Lincoln wasn't ready to lead the country and that he understands hope alone isn't a prescription for change.

"I love the word, but lately some folk say, 'Ahh, he's always talking about hope. He's so idealistic. He's a hope-monger,'" he said.

"Hope is not blind optimism. Hope is not ignorance of the roadblocks and hurdles that stand between you and your goals," he continued. "It was hope that allowed slaves and abolitionists to resist that evil system and would allow a new president, who many said wasn't ready to chart out a new course, that would ensure that this nation would not remain half slave and half free."