The World is Talking. Global Politics

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has been pondering an independent White House bid, will join a dozen leading Democrats and Republicans next week at a meeting “challenging the major-party contenders to spell out their plans for forming a ‘government of national unity’ to end the gridlock in Washington,” according to the Washington Post.

“Those who will be at the Jan. 7 session at the University of Oklahoma say that if the likely nominees of the two parties do not pledge to ‘go beyond tokenism’ in building an administration that seeks national consensus, they will be prepared to back Bloomberg or someone else in a third-party campaign for president.”

“Conveners of the meeting include such prominent Democrats as former senators Sam Nunn (Ga.), Charles S. Robb (Va.) and David L. Boren (Okla.), and former presidential candidate Gary Hart. Republican organizers include Sen. Chuck Hagel (Neb.), former party chairman Bill Brock, former senator John Danforth (Mo.) and former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman.”

Somewhat subjective power rankings as we roll into the playoffs: Pittsburgh Steelers: I think their defense is as fearsome as Kathy Bates on a chilly day, and in the cold weather of the playoffs, that’s going to take them far….

Political Wire got an advance look at the new Reuters/C-Span/Zogby poll in Iowa and it looks very intriguing.

Check back in the morning for details and analysis.

I make it a point of giving the annual year-end New York Times Magazine obituary issue a pass because, frankly, I find it too somber-making, all those deaths under one glossy awning. If that speaks to a certain shallowness on…

Comparing the situation with Armenia and Azerbaijan, Christine Quirk at Asking Tough Questions in Tough Places comments on the value that opinion polls might have during elections in the South Caucasus. The former head of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Azerbaijan turned political analyst says such polls serve a purpose, but that full disclosure […]

“I’ve never seen anything like it. The get-out-the-vote efforts are going to be the best ever.”

– Iowa Gov. Chet Culver (D), quoted by the New York Times, on the extremely close Democratic presidential race in his state that “could be determined by a swing of as few as 1,000 voters.”

Egyptian bloggers couldn't stop themselves from writing about the assassination of one of the bravest women in the Muslim world, and may be the whole world.
Carmen - Diasporic Discontents - wrote about her own experience when she met Bhutto [En].
I met Benazir Bhutto when I was in grad school. She was a very powerful speaker […]

Political Wire has learned that a new Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby tracking poll is in the field in Iowa today and first results will be reported Sunday morning with daily updates until the caucuses. Zogby will also be conducting daily tracking polls in New Hampshire.

Special offer: Subscribe today to get the first detailed results from Iowa tomorrow morning and every day until the caucuses. You will also get the daily tracking results from New Hampshire starting January 4.

I followed up with Dick Bennett of the American Research Group about their latest Iowa poll which I suggested might be an outlier.

He tells Political Wire that “of all the polls being conducted in Iowa, I believe our polls are some of the very few that reflect reasonable turnout estimates. If, for example, you compare our polls to other polls that include half of registered Democrats and/or Republicans, the results will differ because we are sampling a more select group of voters — the voters we believe will definitely participate on January 3.”

He also reports that the incidence of likely Iowa caucus participants in the latest ARG survey suggests turnouts of approximately 134,000 for the Democrats and 111,000 for the Republicans.

Bennett also notes correctly that the results from the recent LAT/Bloomberg poll among Democrats most likely to participate in the caucus are actually very close to the ARG results.

More news: ARG will release their latest New Hampshire poll tomorrow.

A new American Research Group poll in Iowa continues to be an outlier among the various public surveys that have been released this week.

On Democratic side, Sen. Hillary Clinton leads with 31%, followed by John Edwards and Barack Obama at 24% each.

Key findings: 46% of Clinton supporters say Edwards is their second choice and 23% say Obama. 32% of Edwards supporters say Obama is their second choice, followed by Richardson at 19% and Clinton at 18%. 55% of Obama supporters say Edwards is their second choice, followed by 24% for Clinton.

On the Republican side, Mitt Romney leads with 32% support, followed by Mike Huckabee at 23%, and Sen. John McCain at 11%.

Key findings: Romney now leads McCain among no party voters 43% to 22%. Romney also appears to be consolidating the anti-Huckabee support. Support for Huckabee remains the weakest as only 60% of Huckabee supporters say they will definitely vote for Huckabee on Janurary 3.

For both parties, 21% of respondents say they could change their minds between now and the caucuses next week.

Other surveys this week — from Research 2000, LAT/Bloomberg and Strategic Vision — have all shown a much tighter race on the Democratic side and Huckabee leading the GOP race.