Wash Post national poll: Huckabee closing in on Giuliani; Hillary still far ahead in Dem race

But, as Joe always points out, this is a national poll and national polls don't really matter. Why? Because, traditionally, whoever wins Iowa will get a ten point boost going in to New Hampshire (and whoever loses Iowa will get a ten point hit going into New Hampshire). And whoever wins New Hampshire will get a boost for the primaries after that. What matters is how well you do in the first few primary states, not how well you do in national polls, simply because we don't have a one-day, national, winner-take-all primary. From the Washington Post:

Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani continues to lead the Republican field in the national poll, but his support is at its lowest point this year. Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, has more than doubled his support among likely GOP voters since early November and runs just behind Giuliani....

The Democratic race nationally continues to feature Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) far ahead of Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and the rest of the field. But a highly competitive campaign in Iowa pitting Clinton, Obama and former senator John Edwards (N.C.), along with signs of a tightening contest in New Hampshire, suggests that the Democratic race is also far from settled.