Over 50,000 messages of support and over 11,000 blog contest submissions have already been submitted; 50,000 participated in live video webcasts

Supporters are flocking to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign web site at an historic rate, further demonstrating the groundswell of enthusiasm generated by her candidacy. Specifically, some 140,000 supporters have signed up as supporters through the campaign web site, www.hillaryclinton.com in the last five days alone.

"The online response has been overwhelming," Clinton Internet Director Peter Daou said. "140,000 people have signed up since we launched, including nearly a hundred thousand who signed up in the first 48 hours. Senator Clinton's three consecutive live web conversations were attended by tens of thousands of viewers who asked more than 25,000 questions."

By THOMAS BEAUMONT
REGISTER STAFF WRITER

Sen. Hillary Clinton plans to headline a series of public forums across Iowa this weekend on her first trip to the leadoff caucus state as a presidential prospect, her staff announced Thursday.

Aides also confirmed that the New York Democrat had hired veteran Iowa campaign leader JoDee Winterhof to run her campaign for the state's nominating caucuses.

"You're going to see a strong, experienced, hungry team on the ground working on this campaign," said Winterhof, a former chief of staff to Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin.

Winterhof also led the national voter outreach group America Coming Together during the 2004 presidential campaign.

By TONY KARON

Hillary Clinton is the clear front-runner to win the Democratic Party's nomination for President in 2008, but the Republican race will be a close contest between Senator John McCain and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani — with McCain edging Giuliani by a three- to four-point margin. And a presidential face-off between Clinton and McCain, right now, would be close to a dead heat. Those are some of the key findings of a new TIME poll earlier this week that canvassed a random sample of 1,064 registered voters by phone.

Despite the buzz generated by Senator Barack Obama entering the race, the survey found that Senator Clinton would beat him for the Democratic nomination by a margin of 40% to 21%. Senator John Edwards is a distant third with 11%. Obama clearly suffers a disadvantage in profile among likely voters, with only 51% indicating that they knew enough about him to form an opinion, compared with 94% saying the same of Hillary Clinton. In Obama's favor, however, is his far lower negative ratings. While 58% of voters familiar with Hillary Clinton have a positive view of her, 41% give her negative marks, for a net favorability score of +17. By contrast, Obama's net favorability score is +47. On the Republican side, Giuliani has a net favorability rating of +68, with only 14% having a negative view of him. McCain's net favorability score is +45.

She is the front runner, but what can be done to stop her?

She is the front runner, and she will win in 2008.