Say it isn’t so

He’s been polling badly everywhere else, but in Iowa, Silky Phoney is actually ahead of Hillary and Barack:

John Edwards is betting that a strong showing in the Iowa caucuses will catapult him into national contention, and so far his strategy in the state is on track. A new TIME poll of likely Iowa caucus goers, taken a week after Edwards’ seven-day, 31-stop bus tour of the state, gives Edwards 29% of the vote, five points ahead of Hillary Clinton and seven ahead of Barack Obama. This latest TIME Poll of 519 likely Iowa Democratic caucus goers finds that, among the so-called “second-tier” candidates, Bill Richardson has 11%, with Joe Biden at 5%, Dennis Kucinich with 2%, and Chris Dodd at 1%. (The Poll was conducted August 22 – 25, 2007. The margin of error is approximately +/- 5 percentage points.)

With the field limited to the top four candidates, Edwards’s lead over Clinton widens, to 32% to 24%. Obama was at 22%, with Bill Richardson at 13%. Iowa polls can be unreliable, since only 5% to 10% of voters go to the caucuses; some other recent surveys have Edwards in a dead heat with Clinton and Obama. The race remains wide open, but Edwards’s position remains strong.

Is it possible? Could His Royal Phoniness actually pull off an upset in Iowa? I shudder to think about it …

Speaking of Iowa, Brian from Liberty Pundit has a piece up at Pajamas Media today in which he discusses attitudes of his fellow conservative Iowans post-Iowa Straw Poll, and speculates on what could be coming up around caucus time.