Democratic presidential rivals spent much of the day bickering over who was the most electable in the November 2008 election, seizing on a new polls released in the last few days.

Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton had supportive lawmakers hawk a new New York Times/CBS News poll showing that 63 percent of those surveyed believed she was the most electable, leading by a sizable margin.
 
Before taking a direct shot at rival Democratic hopeful Barack Obama, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas initially stumbled outlining her support for Clinton:
 
“I frankly believe that the senator is one of the … or is the, excuse me, strongest and most electable candidate of the group of candidates that we have for the Democratic nomination,” she said on the conference call.

Jackson Lee went on to chastize Obama for changing his position from when he was a state senator. At first, she avoided naming him directly.
 
“I don’t frankly understand a candidate who seems to think he can offer one position in the early stages of his career, and then as he begins to reach a level of national election, that he can change from one position to the next,” she said.
 
When pressed, Jackson Lee identified Obama as her target and said his position on gun control evolved, arguing he originally supported banning guns as an Illinois state senator.
    
“So he’d be better off to recognize that you have a position of regulating guns and yet you recognize that the Democratic party is a big tent,” she said. While admitting a politician can evolve, Jackson Lee said it had to be “true evolving and not on the political wind.”
 
Obama’s campaign denied there he was a shift, arguing he was never for banning firearms but instead supports gun control measures.
 
Meanwhile, Obama told reporters on a call to announce the endorsement of U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter of New Hampshire that he was the candidate who was most able to attract new voters and bring Republicans and independents into the Democratic fold.
 
“Repeatedly on surveys, what you see is that Republicans and independents are more open to my message of change than they are to any other candidates out there, and that’s going to be required in terms of bringing people together to get things done,” Obama said.
 
And yet former Democratic Sen. John Edwards hawked a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll that showed he beats the Republicans by the widest margins among the field, even though he trails Clinton and Obama in national surveys.

– Additional reporting by John Whitesides

– Photo credit: Reuters/Tim Shaffer (Democratic candidates during Philadelphia debate), Kevin Lamarque (Obama and Jackson Lee earlier this year)