First things first, Talk Business is proud to announce the launch of Talk Business Quarterly, a free magazine publication that will debut in January 2008. If you’d like to get on our distribution list, send your contact information to me at roby@talkbusiness.net.

We think you’ll find TBQ refreshing in providing you insight on Arkansas’ business and political landscape through our in-depth articles, exclusive executive interviews, and fresh statistical analyses. Our first issue will feature a roundtable discussion between real estate developer Jim Lindsey, Arkansas Farm Bureau President Stanley Reed, and trucking CEO Steve Williams of Maverick USA.

Through our partnership with Global Strategy Group, an international leader in opinion research, TBQ will also set a high standard for benchmark polling on important issues impacting Arkansas. With that, we’re pleased to reveal some results from our first poll, which gauges the Arkansas prospects for Mike Huckabee in the GOP field and Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary, as well as a head-to-head match-up.

59% of Arkansas Republican voters support Huckabee to be their Presidential nominee. Other GOP rankings show Rudy Guiliani and John McCain tied at 9%, followed by Mitt Romney at 7%, Fred Thompson at 6% and Ron Paul at 3%. 7% were undecided.

On the Democratic side, 57% of that party’s voters in Arkansas support Hillary Clinton for the nomination. Barack Obama pulled 17% of Democratic support, followed by John Edwards at 14%, Bill Richardson at 1%, and undecided voters polled at 11%.

In a head-to-head match-up – Hillary vs. Huckabee – you can call it a statistical dead-heat:

• Clinton 44%
• Huckabee 43%
• 7% Would not vote
• 7% Don’t know

The Talk Business poll was conducted between December 12-16, 2007 among 608 registered Arkansas voters statewide. The poll has a margin of error of 4.4%.