Poll finds Giuliani, Clinton still leading

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has gained ground on former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani among Republican voters nationwide, slicing Giuliani's lead to 6 percentage points from 25 points a month ago, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll.

Giuliani is the favored presidential candidate of 25 percent of likely Republican voters surveyed, down from 34 percent in November. Huckabee has 19 percent, up from 9 percent.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has 17 percent, former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee 14 percent and Sen. John McCain of Arizona 12 percent.

Among likely Democratic voters, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York continues to lead Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

Clinton was supported by 53 percent of Democratic voters, Obama by 23 percent and Edwards by 10 percent.

The ABC/Post telephone poll surveyed 1,136 adults Dec. 6 through Dec. 9. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for the full sample, 5.5 points for likely Republican voters and 4.5 points for likely Democratic voters.

Clinton says Obama leans too far left

Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday accused Barack Obama of being too far left to be elected president — citing a decade-old questionnaire indicating Obama once opposed the death penalty and backed socialized medicine.

In 1996, Obama, then running for the state Senate, filled out an election questionnaire for the liberal, good-government Independent Voters of Illinois, Independent Precinct Organization. On the forms, Obama proclaimed his support for a "single-payer" health-insurance system, even though he now supports a system based on private insurance. He also answered "yes" when asked if he backed state bills that would ban the possession of all handguns. He now backs stringent but limited controls.

In a statement, a spokeswoman said, "Obama never saw or approved" the document, and the health care, capital punishment and gun control answers weren't consistent with his stances, then or now.

"It was filled out by an aide who has conceded she never got Obama's sign-off," the spokeswoman said. "Some of the answers accurately reflect Obama's position. Others do not."

Obama says he supports capital punishment for severe crimes but once favored a temporary moratorium after a handful of capital cases were found to have been based on faulty evidence.

Clinton aides suggested the questionnaire proved Obama tailored his views to suit the political climate — a charge he's often leveled at her.

At fundraiser, Buffett warns of income gap

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett put on his presidential fundraiser's hat Tuesday, helping Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton raise more than $1 million and warning those who paid as much as $2,300 to hear him that the growing gap between America's rich and poor must be addressed.

"It's been a marvelous, marvelous time for these super rich," Buffett, the nation's most famous investor, told more than 1,500 people in a San Francisco hotel banquet room.

But, turning serious, he decried the income disparity between the nation's wealthiest and average Americans, aided by an unfair tax code. Sharing the nation's prosperity, he said, will be "the next test of the country."

He called for a tax system that will not let the wealthiest Americans, notably himself, pay a substantially smaller percentage of their incomes in taxes than "a cleaning woman."

Also

Romney's new ad: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Tuesday unveiled the first TV ad in the campaign that can be labeled an "attack" or "contrast" ad aimed at a competitor from the same party. It's a 30-second spot called "Choice: The Record," and it goes after GOP rival Mike Huckabee on the issue of immigration.

Activist sues: The Michigan presidential primary set for Jan. 15 is under challenge in court again, this time from disgruntled Democratic Party activist Martha Hayes who wants it scuttled because her preferred candidate won't be on the ballot. Candidates Joe Biden, John Edwards, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson had their names removed from the Michigan ballot in October because the Jan. 15 date violates national party rules.

Seattle Times news services