Polls: Some home state voters don't think their in-state presidential hopefuls would make a good president

Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska has been a frequent critic of President Bush, particularly of his Iraq policy. Like Democrat Joe Biden, he must have a gargantuan ego, because he's considering a run for president in 2008--even though most Republican voters have had him "off the reservation" for a couple of years.

Here's what a Nebraska AP poll said about what his home state voters thought of a Hagel presidential run.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel has long been a favorite among national political pundits, but the Nebraska Republican might need to polish his image back home if he hopes to run for president in 2008.

In an Associated Press exit poll conducted on Election Day, nearly half of Nebraska voters surveyed indicated they did not think Hagel would make a good president.

Only 37 percent indicated they believed Hagel would make a good president, according to the poll of 1,014 Nebraska voters conducted for AP and television networks by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International. Results were subject to sampling error of plus or minus 5 percentage points, higher for subgroups.

That comes as a surprise to some who watch politics in the solidly red state of Nebraska, where only about a third of voters are registered Democrats.

"I would have thought it would have been more positive than negative," said Loree Bykerk, a political science professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. "But there are some rock--ribbed Republicans that are really offended at his critique of the president."

Retiring Tennessee Republican Senator Bill Frist faced a similar response voters in his native state, although I suspect his very-public stance during the Terry Schiavo crisis hurt him among Tennesseeans. However, Frist approached Schiavo as a doctor, not as a politician, in my opinion.

From a different AP article:

By a 44-37 percent margin, Tennesseans said "no" to a Frist presidency. The remaining 19 percent did not answer.

By comparison, possible contenders Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., both received majority "yes" votes from their home states Tuesday. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson received pluralities.

Among those who didn't were Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.; Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney; New York Gov. George Pataki; former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani; and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia.

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