Hillary Defeats Ron Paul

Rasmussen Reports polled Ron Paul's strength against the Democratic frontrunners and the news is not good: Paul would lose to Hillary Clinton by 19 points and Barack Obama by 20 points. Only 20 percent of voters have a positive opinion of Paul, and 38 percent have a negative opinion.

What's that mean? It's actually something that Rasmussen even bothered to include Paul in a polling round. That might be a bow to the changing dynamics of the race—with his bankroll and continued organizing strength, Paul is going to be fighting primaries long after the rest of the second tier jumps out.

And as far as the general election goes, it's really something that neither Democrat can rise about 50 percent when matched with a candidate elements of the GOP finds unacceptable. (Paul's favorable numbers are identical to Sam Brownback's, and nobody's accused him of harboring 9/11 conspiracy theories.) Rasmussen has tested most of the field against the Democrats and the opposition party falls as low as 39 percent (Obama vs. Rudy) and as rises as high as 52 percent (Edwards vs. Romney).