Can Hillary Clinton Stay at the Top?
HOLMES: Scenes of anger from El Alto, Bolivia, where hundreds of residents ransacked local bars and brothels. For a second day they broke doors, through out furniture, and burned vehicles.</s>MCEDWARDS: Protesters say they took justice into their own hands after lawmakers failed to approve a move to forbid pubs and brothels near schools. One woman says she's glad the businesses were damaged because their children, their husbands and their brothers spend all of their time in the bars.</s>HOLMES: Not the brothels?</s>MCEDWARDS: Of course not.</s>HOLMES: The bars? Right. Well, welcome back. You're watching YOUR WORLD TODAY here on CNN International.</s>MCEDWARDS: We are seen live in more than 200 countries and territories all around the world. Well, the Republican presidential hopeful, Rudy Giuliani, just picked up a Texas-sized political endorsement.</s>HOLMES: Indeed. Governor Rick Perry, now backing the former New York City mayor's bid for the White House. The Texas governor is a social conservative who, unlike Giuliani, opposes abortion rights.</s>MCEDWARDS: Perry says his belief that Giuliani can win, and his track record as mayor, outweigh any differences that they have on the issues.</s>HOLMES: This story, I like. The question is, who is going to endorse the Comedy Central comedian who just entered the race?</s>MCEDWARDS: Steven Colbert, who makes a living lampooning politicians, apparently now, one of them.</s>HOLMES: That's right. He said he spent well, nearly 15 minutes of soul searching before making this announcement on the "Colbert Report."</s>STEPHEN COLBERT, COMEDY CENTRAL: I've heard the call. Nation, I shall seek the office of the president of the United States! I am doing it! Whoo!</s>HOLMES: Got to say, for people who don't see the show around the world, he is a fake, if you like, conservative commentator on television.</s>MCEDWARDS: And he suggested apparently as his potential running mate, Vladimir Putin.</s>HOLMES: He's a funny, funny man, I've got to say. OK, well the primaries still months away, but if some new polls are accurate, the Democratic nomination is Hillary Clinton's to lose.</s>MCEDWARDS: That's what they say. The new numbers aren't fazing her opponents now. CNN's Candy Crowley has more.</s>CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): She began with a platinum rolodex, marquee name, pre-existing political machine, and a question -- is Hillary Clinton elect-able? Democrats think so. The latest poll from CNN and Opinion Research Corporation shows Hillary Clinton, the favorite of 51 percent of registered Democrats and Democrats leaning Independents. She's come a long way, baby. Is she elect-able has morphed into, is she stop-able? From the beginning a disciplined candidate and tightly run campaign wanted to soften what they say was a Republican-created image, Clinton as ultraliberal ice queen.</s>SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So, let's talk, let's chat. Let's start a dialogue.</s>CROWLEY: There have been cozy Internet moments, frequent and much discussed bursts of laughter as noted on the girl-centric program, "The View."</s>CLINTON: The laugh.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The laugh.</s>BARBARA WALTERS, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Do you mind that?</s>CROWLEY: And there are user-friendly campaign appearances, Tuesday on initiatives to help women meet everyday problems.</s>CLINTON: Chelsea was sick, my babysitter wasn't there, then she called, and she was sick, too. It was just that gut-wrenching feeling.</s>CROWLEY: But as she softened up her image, Clinton also toughened up her credentials.</s>CLINTON: If President Bush does not end the war if Iraq before he leaves office, when I am president, I will.</s>CROWLEY: There had been multiple policy rollouts and rave reviews at debates. The bottom line, nationally, she is 30 points ahead of Barack Obama.</s>SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The national poll story will run, sooner or later, has to run itself out. At some point, there will be the first actual vote.</s>CROWLEY: Out-raising Clinton for most of the year, Obama has failed to turn his fund-raising prowess into poll numbers. But he's right, of course, the Iowa caucuses, the first votes, are two and a half months away. And poll there's show a very close race. Clinton, Edwards, Obama.</s>OBAMA: If we win Iowa, I'll be the nominee.</s>CROWLEY: Someone could beat her in Iowa, rewriting the unstop- able Clinton story line. But if they don't stop her in Iowa, they may not be able to stop her anywhere. On the Republican side, Fred Thompson can't seem to get started at all. Widely panned as lackluster and unprepared, he's taken a tumble dropping 8 points since September.</s>RUDY GIULIANI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not just running on rhetoric, I'm running on results.</s>CROWLEY: Rudy Giuliani remains the front-runner among registered Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents, but close numbers indicate a jump ball for the nomination and a party in flux. Consider that Giuliani's support, 27 percent among Republicans, is about half of Clinton's support among Democrats. Still, skip past the primary season and look at this. A head-to-head match-up, Clinton versus Giuliani, a virtual dead heat. Interesting, but there are miles to go before they sleep. Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.</s>MCEDWARDS: Miles to go, indeed. Polls may say Senator Clinton is a shoe-in for the Democratic presidential nomination but they've been wrong before. In fact, the Washington bureau chief for "Salon" magazine says Hillary can still blow it big time. Walter Shapiro joins us live to talk about his new article, in which he outlines some potential pitfalls for Senator Clinton. We're going to talk about a few of them here. Walter, thanks a lot for joining us.</s>WALTER SHAPIRO, D.C. BUREAU CHIEF, "SALON": Thank you.</s>MCEDWARDS: To those of us who come from other countries, U.S. election campaigns seem so long. Other than 30 days, and you're in, you're out. These go on forever.</s>SHAPIRO: For those of us who live here, they seem so long.</s>MCEDWARDS: Yeah, right. They leave a lot of time for things to go wrong, don't they?</s>SHAPIRO: They leave an infinite amount of time for things to go wrong. And the thing about national polls is the Pew Research Center had a recent poll that said 71 percent of the American people still haven't been paying much attention to the presidential race. And even in the key early state of New Hampshire, 55 percent of Democrats, in a recent poll, said they -- sponsored by CNN and WMUR -- said they had not yet made up their mind. These are unbelievably shallow numbers, when they say that Hillary is 51 percent. And they can change in an instant, particularly if she loses either Iowa or New Hampshire.</s>MCEDWARDS: Yeah. What could go wrong? What do you think?</s>SHAPIRO: First of all, first of all, the rule of politics -- and my first presidential campaign I covered was 1916, Woodrow Wilson's re-election campaign -- is the thing that always can go wrong is the conventional wisdom changes. That the conventional wisdom is fluid. We get bored with the story line. Also, that Hillary, a lot of her support is based on the fact that she is the strongest Democrat against Republicans. If she starts losing in places like Iowa, her weakest state, it will revive questions about is she indeed the most elect-able Democrat? And then, there's this fellow named Bill Clinton out there. Bill Clinton, as we all know, has developed in the past an ability to, shall we say, cause us all to write about the Clinton marriage.</s>MCEDWARDS: If you're being polite.</s>SHAPIRO: Moreover, we're in a situation where we never had a first spouse, potential first spouse like Bill Clinton.</s>MCEDWARDS: But he's an asset.</s>SHAPIRO: I'm not sure if the American people have worked that through.</s>MCEDWARDS: Come on, Walter, though, he's an asset, though, isn't he? The guy's Rolodex, the fund-raising. Do you really think Bill Clinton could be a liability at some point here?</s>SHAPIRO: I'm not saying that Bill Clinton could be a liability. I'm saying polls, right now, reflect only Bill Clinton, the asset, and none of the liability.</s>MCEDWARDS: I got ya. I got ya. Even if things were to sort of go south for her, is there really a Democratic candidate who can touch her? I mean if you look at the national polls, she's 30 points ahead of Barack Obama. Can he step up?</s>SHAPIRO: That is a question that has a lot of people in the Obama campaign worried. But that is much more between what is in Barack Obama himself, and whether he can draw the distinctions with Hillary Clinton. Certainly, it seemed if he could step up six months ago when the news magazines were filled with Obama mania. And there's two and a half months is an eternity in politics. Also there's a fellow named John Edwards who is, as Candy Crowley indicated, is very strong in Iowa and it is not inconceivable that someone not named Barack or Hillary could win Iowa.</s>MCEDWARDS: All right, we've got to leave it there. Walter Shapiro, thanks for sharing your thoughts. Appreciate it.</s>SHAPIRO: Thank you so much.</s>MCEDWARDS: Well, one thing is for sure, we have a lot of time to watch it play out.</s>HOLMES: Oh, yeah, you know, the year ...</s>MCEDWARDS: Thirteen months.</s>HOLMES: ...to go? Yeah. OK, coming up, the rise of the mini pig.</s>MCEDWARDS: They're cute, they're cuddly, and the English farmer who bred them hope they'll replace Chihuahua's as the beautiful perky pet of choice. Paris Hilton has gotta get one.</s>HOLMES: Paris Hilton will have to have one.