Hillary Clinton Campaign Press Release - Obama Forced to Defend Electability in Face of New Poll & Discovery of Questionnaire

Barack Obama's campaign is on the defensive about his electability today in the face of a new CBS/New York Times poll showing voters find Hillary Clinton far more electable and a news report showing Sen. Obama previously held positions - such as banning all handguns - that he no longer claims to espouse.

The new CBS/NYT poll released yesterday reveals that voters -- by wide margins -- think Hillary Clinton is the Democrat with the best chance of winning the general election. Nearly two-thirds of voters (63 percent), more than four times the number chose Obama (14 percent), believe Hillary is the best bet for taking back the White House. The poll comes on the heels of others showing very similar findings: a CNN poll from last week shows Hillary more than doubling Obama (53-25) on who has the best chance to beat the Republican nominee, LA Times/Bloomberg has Hillary leading 54-17 on the same question, and a Time poll from mid-November shows Hillary is by far the most likely to win the general election (76-23 versus 61-38 for Obama).

And a revealing new report today in the Politico uncovers a 1996 voter questionnaire that then-state senate candidate Obama filled out that raises questions about "whether he is insufficiently consistent."

Specifically, the article says that while Obama was previously "flatly opposed to capital punishment, in support of a federal single-payer health plan, against any restrictions on abortion, and in support of state laws to ban the manufacture, sale and even possession of handguns," he has since been criticized for "abandon[ing] the stands as he rose through the ranks." The article notes that "Obama, who makes an issue of his opponents' consistency in the presidential race, has tempered many of those 1996 views during his quick rise to the pinnacle of American politics."

In response, the Obama campaign has found itself on the defensive about its candidate's general election viability.