Bob McCarty Writes

USA Today/Gallop Poll findings from a survey taken March 23-25 produced surprising results, including the fact that former North Carolina senator John Edwards received a slight bump — up to 14 percent — and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney‘s support fell to 3 percent — down from 8 percent earlier this month.

Edwards’ upswing was attributed to an announcement he and his wife Elizabeth made earlier in the week about the recurrence of her cancer. Romney’s drop, however, was more of a mystery. Bob McCarty Writes suspects the Miami Herald‘s coverage of a “bungled” Romney speech in Miami might have something to do with it [For more info, visit these Bob McCarty Writes posts from earlier this month: post #1 , post #2, post #3 and post #4.]

Other Democrats were preferred by Democrats and Democrat-leaning voters as follows: New York Sen. Hillary Clinton (35 percent); Illinois Sen. Barack Obama (22 percent); and former vice president Al Gore (17 percent). All other Democrats were preferred by fewer than 3 percent of respondents.

In addition to Romney’s drop, the Republican side of the poll offered one more surprise: 12 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters preferred actor and former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson.

Others in the Republican field were: Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani (31 percent); Arizona Sen. John McCain (22 percent); former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (8 percent). All other GOP candidates were preferred by 3 percent or fewer respondents.

[Editor's Note: Except for Al Gore and Fred Thompson, both of whom have yet to declare their candidacies, all candidates listed as "vote-getters" in the article above appear on the roster of the Warning Labels On Politicians campaign. is an effort aimed at convincing 2008 presidential candidates to display warning labels on all advertising, literature and signage related to their campaigns. Where a candidate's name appears in bold, you can click on the name and see a full lineup of Warning Labels On Politicians merchandise associated with that candidate.]