Hillary Clinton Widens Poll Lead Over Barack Obama

NOTE TO READERS: Due to some kind of system glitch, this post mistakenly went on the site as a “PRIVATE” post that no one could get to. We are therefore redating it and putting on today’s TMV.

New York Senator Hillary Clinton has widened her poll lead over Senator Barack Obama — while the GOP race remains largely unchanged, a new poll reports:

“New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has significantly widened her lead over Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination,” USA TODAY Washington bureau chief Susan Page writes.

She tells us that according to the latest USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, Clinton’s support among Democrats and independent voters who “lean” Democratic stands at 48%. — up eight percentage points from three weeks ago.

We’ve said it before: watch the independent voters.

MORE:

Obama’s support: 26%, down two points. In third: Former North Carolina senator John Edwards, at 12%.

It’s probably not surprising that strategists for the two top Democrats have sharply different takes on the news.

“People are seeing her as the one ready to be president,” Mark Penn, Clinton’s chief strategist, told Susan. Bill Burton, Obama’s spokesman, dismissed the findings. “National polls may go up and down before people actually start voting, but their irrelevance will not,” he said.

Susan, in a story that will be posted later this evening at USATODAY.com, will also report that on the Republican side, “the race was stable: Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani at 33%, former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson at 21%, Arizona Sen. John McCain at 16% and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney at 8%.

Clinton has stayed out in front consistently. In the GOP race, Giuliani remains the top polling favorite…so the real wild card more than ever becomes Thompson. Will he change the race — and the poll numbers? Or will he be a flash in the pan? McCain now seems to be political toast but there are comebacks in politics. But don’t hold your breath.