Hillary is losing popularity, and independent voters are "split down the middle"

'She can lose the nomination', By Donald Lambro ...And it isn't just Democratic strategists who are saying this. Top political pollsters are also picking up signals that her eroding electability is fast becoming a troubling issue among Democrats who see 2008 as their best chance to win back the White House -- with a stronger candidate.
A Gallup poll reported last week that "Americans are closely divided in their view of whether Clinton or Obama has the better chance of being elected, with 50 percent choosing Clinton and 45 percent choosing Obama."More importantly, perhaps, Gallup found that independent voters, the fastest-growing segment of the nation's electorate, were "split down the middle" between the two major rivals when asked to appraise their electability.Clinton's erosion has been nothing short of astonishing in the past week, though the campaign press has been slow to focus on it. Indeed, they've gone out of their way to ignore it. ... (Town Hall)

Independents are important in the general election, not so much in the primaries -- less than half the states have open primaries. But we may be a factor in "electability" as the major parties choose their candidates. If independents can create a presence in the 2008 campaigns, we can impact on the terms of the election. What will this election be about? What will be the issues that drive the campaigns? If we independents are speaking out and organizing (a fancy word for talking to each other and putting pressure on the candidates), we might gain some ground in changing the culture of politics in our country. -NH