hope

a little wonkish for ND, but this poll, conducted by a republican political research firm in conjunction with NPR, is too interesting to pass up.

it's not (just) the poor approval rating of the current administration that augurs a republican defeat in 2008, it's the fact that the GOP message no longer resonates with the american public. on four key issues -- iraq, the economy, trade, and taxes -- the democratic message consistently won out over the GOP message by 11 to 25 points.

but here's the interesting part: when voters were given each parties' message, but not which party it was coming from, the results were even worse for republicans. on the economy, republican voters liked the democrats' message more than their own party’s message by a 14% margin when they didn’t know which party it was coming from. on taxes, support for the GOP message dropped by a gargantuan 53% when the party’s names were removed, leaving the democrats with a 14% advantage

also worth noting: this poll finds obama to be stronger than clinton among independent voters and against mccain