From Adam Nagourney's report on the latest CBS News / New York Times poll:
Two-thirds of New Hampshire Republicans and one-half of Iowa Republicans said they were open to voting for candidates who did not share their view on issues like abortion and same-sex marriage, which augurs well for Mr. Giuliani, who supports abortion rights and gay rights.
It's worth asking whether the respondents are just being polite, telling pollsters they are open to doing something - voting for a pro-choice candidate - that they really won't do. But then you combine it with this fact, from the Iowa polling:
Among Republican caucusgoers, 27 percent said they would support Mr. Romney, while 21 percent said they would support Mr. Huckabee and 15 percent said they would support Mr. Giuliani. But two-thirds of Mr. Romney's backers said they could change their mind, a strikingly large number; by contrast, half of Mr. Huckabee's supporters said they could change their mind. And nearly every one of Mr. Huckabee's poll measures in Iowa, where he has focused most of his resources, was encouraging: 50 percent of respondents had a favorable view of him, compared with 7 percent who said they viewed him unfavorably.
Look for the Romney campaign to start driving up Huckabee's unfavorables. Nonetheless, the message underlying Nagourney's report is clear: The race for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination is wide-open.
