ARE RON PAUL VOTERS SUPPORTERS DEMOCRATS? FOR NOW, YES

I was criticized in the comments to a couple of recent posts for suggesting that Ron Paul might actually take votes away from the Democratic nominee if he runs for president as a third-party candidate. Given his many right-wing (and far-right-wing) positions, it doesn't make any sense. But it turns out that I may be right.

Rasmussen Reports just polled a four-way race -- Clinton/Giuliani/Paul/Nader. And what do you know:

Perhaps because of his position on the War in Iraq, Paul attracts more support from Democrats than Republicans.

It can't be a huge discrepancy -- in the last two-way Rasmussen poll, Hillary beat Rudy by six points, and in this poll she beats Rudy by three, even with Nader and Paul in the mix. (The undecideds drop from 10% to 7%.)

Still, it's a sign that the Democrats are actually going to have to do a bit of work to frame Paul (accurately) as a wingnut if he does run in the general election.