Winning Ugly

That's what the Democrats want, when polled nationally. Clinton's national lead in the Fox poll is pretty stunning, given her struggles in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. The salience of national polls is iffy, of course, but it's still a striking result. Obama may have peaked too soon to stymie the Clinton smear machine. But the Dem voters have their eyes open:

Democrats are much more likely to say Clinton "would do anything to win" compared with her competitors, and is almost three times as likely to be "practicing dirty politics during the campaign."

The classic Clinton smears and lies are fine with the base, it seems. Like Paul Krugman, they seem to want more of the polarization of the past, more politics as revenge. Meanwhile, the Republicans nationally are a three-way race: Giuliani, McCain and Huckabee. Again: one should use caution in national numbers. But the McCain surge seems to be real.