And the Democratic Front-runner Is... John Edwards?

Joe Klein scopes out an Iowa poll showing the former vice presidential candidate with a surprising lead among Democratic Presidential hopefuls. Is Hillary in trouble?

By JOE KLEIN

Only a seriously diseased political junkie-one without a life, one who hates to go holiday shopping, one like me-would give a local Presidential poll more than a nanosecond's attention this early in the political process. But...hey, it's Iowa and the results are kind of interesting. The Des Moines Register is reporting these numbers in a poll of Iowa Democrats conducted in October by Harstad Research for a group called Environmental Defense:

John Edwards 36%
Hillary Clinton 16%
Barack Obama 13%
Tom Vilsack 11%

Among county Democratic Party leaders, the numbers are even more startling:

Edwards 40%
Vilsack 15%
Obama 11%
Clinton 8%

Continued