Barone Runs the Numbers

Michael Barone is one of the best political analysts working today. Writing in the National Review Online, Barone says Republican voters have been shopping around for a candidate while Democrats have pretty much hung tough with whoever they originally supported. The whole article is worth reading but this paragraph stands out:

Why is the Republican-primary electorate so fluid? One reason is that none of the candidates matches, or has matched until very recently, the issue preferences of the conservative Republican base. That’s why Thompson, who seems to be a closer match, has moved up rapidly, to the point that he led Giuliani by one percent in the most recent Rasmussen poll.