WASHINGTON – Republicans antsy for a conservative standard-bearer in the presidential race have begun to rally behind Fred Thompson, propelling the former Tennessee senator to within hailing distance of the lead for the party’s nomination, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Poll has found.
Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani holds first place in the survey, with support from 27 percent of the Republicans and independents who said they plan to vote in the party’s 2008 primaries.
But Thompson, an actor who plays a prosecutor on NBC’s “Law and Order,” runs just behind, with 21 percent. Indications are he will join the race within the next month.
The two other major GOP contenders, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, are in a battle for third place. McCain was backed by 12 percent of those polled, Romney by 10 percent. The rest of the field is mired in single digits.
Among the Democratic candidates, the race remains little changed from a Times/ Bloomberg poll in April.
New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton maintains a solid lead at 33 percent, followed by Illinois Sen. Barack Obama at 22 percent. Running third, with 15 percent, is former Vice President Al Gore, who continues to say he has no plans to seek the office he barely lost in 2000.
Fourth is former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards at 8 percent.
Despite Clinton’s lead, Obama is the strongest Democrat in hypothetical matchups with Republicans in the general election, running even or well ahead of the GOP’s top contenders.
Clinton, in a showing that could spark concerns among some Democrats, does not fare as well. Against Giuliani, for instance, the poll found she would lose by 10 percentage points.
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