Free-for-All 2008: The High-Water Mark of the Hagel Presidency

With the political campaign as boring as it has ever been and lots of other things to do in life, here are the (late) Chatter Rankings. Note that Hagel's bounce is because he announced he's stepping out of the race and retiring from the Senate. Hey, all publicity is good publicity, right? This is the high-water mark of the Hagel presidency.

The monthly prediction...

Sep '07: Giuliani & Thompson over Clinton & Warner
Aug '07: Giuliani & Thompson over Clinton & Warner
Jul '07: Giuliani & Thompson over Clinton & Warner
Jun '07: Clinton & Warner over McCain & Romney
May '07: Clinton & Warner over McCain & Romney
Apr '07: Clinton & Warner over McCain & Giuliani
Mar '07: Clinton & Obama over McCain & Giuliani
Feb '07: Clinton & Obama over McCain & Giuliani
Jan '07: Clinton & Obama over McCain & Giuliani
Dec '06: Clinton & Obama over McCain & Giuliani
Nov '06: McCain & Giuliani over Clinton & Warner
Oct '06: McCain & Giuliani over Clinton & Warner
Sep '06: McCain & Giuliani over Clinton & Warner
Aug '06: McCain & Giuliani over Clinton & Warner
Jul '06: Clinton & Warner over Allen & Romney
Jun '06: Clinton & Warner over Allen & Romney
May '06: Clinton & Warner over Allen & Romney
Apr '06: Clinton & Warner over Allen & Romney
Mar '06: Clinton & Warner over Allen & Rice
Feb '06: Clinton & Warner over Allen & Rice

Rank	Candidate	Chatter	Rank Change
R.1	Sen. John McCain	3,915	0
R.2	Gov. Mitt Romney	3,267	+1
R.3	Rudy Giuliani	3,199	-1
R.4	Fred Thompson	2,628	0
R.5	Sen. Chuck Hagel	1,141	+8
R.6	Rep. Ron Paul	747	-1
R.7	Gov. Mike Huckabee	610	0
R.8	Secy. Condoleezza Rice	310	-2
R.9	Newt Gingrich	293	+3
R.10	Sen. Sam Brownback	237	-2
R.11	Rep. Duncan Hunter	202	0
R.12	Rep. Tom Tancredo	142	-2
...............	...............................................	.......................	...............
D.1	Sen. Hillary Clinton	6,843	0
D.2	Sen. Barack Obama	5,020	0
D.3	Sen. John Edwards	3,787	0
D.4	Sen. Joseph Biden	1,892	+1
D.5	Sen. Christopher Dodd	1,738	+1
D.6	Sen. John Kerry	1,689	+1
D.7	Gov. Bill Richardson	949	-3
D.8	Al Gore	499	0
D.9	Sen. Russ Feingold	336	+4
D.10	Howard Dean	299	0
D.11	Rep. Dennis Kucinich	266	-2
D.12	Mike Gravel	130	-1

Notes: The Chatter Rankings are created by searching each candidate's name plus "2008" in the Google News database. This month tested but not qualifying are John Cox (interference 204) and Jeb Bush (56). Purged this month are withdrawees Jim Gilmore (180) and Mark Warner (624; both will seek Virginia's senate seat), Wesley Clark (60) and Tommy Thompson (75). Non-contenders are kept on the rolls as Vice-Presidential possibilities (e.g. Rice) and benchmarks (e.g. Dean).

See recent graphs of the Chatter Rankings plus Chatter Rankings from August, July, June, May, April, March, February, January, December 2006, November, October, September, August, July, June, May, April, March, February, December 2005, August, July, June, and May.