Wow, wow, wow. Hillary Clinton's phenomenal 2-week stretch (resounding win in the New Hampshire debate, key endorsements, 100,000 new donors, and $27M for Q3) got even better today, as the latest WaPo/ABC poll gives her a whopping 33-point lead over fading Barack Obama.
Here are the latest numbers:
Clinton: 53%
Obama: 20%
Edwards: 13%
Clinton now holds a 20-point edge over Obama and Edwards COMBINED.
The story is front-page in today's Washington Post:
Clinton Widens Lead In Poll
Senator Also Tops Obama in Latest Fundraising Data
By Jon Cohen and Anne E. Kornblut
Washington Post Staff Writers
-Wednesday, October 3, 2007; A01
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has consolidated her place as the front-runner in the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination, outpacing her main rivals in fundraising in the most recent quarter and widening her lead in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
For the first time, Clinton (N.Y.) is drawing support from a majority of Democrats -- and has opened up a lead of 33 percentage points over Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.). Her popularity, the poll suggests, is being driven by her strength on key issues and a growing perception among voters that she would best represent change.
The new numbers come on the heels of an aggressive push by Clinton to dominate the political landscape. She unveiled her health-care proposal and then appeared on all five Sunday news shows on the same day -- all while her husband, former president Bill Clinton, went on tour to promote a new book. Within the past month, at least one Clinton has appeared on television virtually every day, increasing the campaign's exposure among millions of Americans.
Yesterday, her campaign announced that it had topped Obama for the first time in a fundraising period, taking in $22 million in the past three months in funds that can be used for the primary campaign, to Obama's $19 million.
The fact that Clinton has cleared the 50% mark demonstrates that she's the most electable Democratic candidate.
Voters agree:
Despite rivals' efforts to portray her as too polarizing to win the general election, a clear majority of those surveyed, 57 percent, said Clinton is the Democratic candidate with the best chance on Nov. 4, 2008. The percentage saying Clinton has the best shot at winning is up 14 points since June. By contrast, 20 percent think Edwards is most electable and 16 percent think Obama is, numbers that represent a huge blow to the "electability" argument rivals have sought to use against her.
One of the central claims of Obama's campaign is that he is best suited to lower partisan tensions in Washington. But, in this poll, more see Clinton as best able to reduce partisanship.
On major issues, Democrats are far more likely to trust her than her main competitors -- 52 percent trust her most on Iraq, compared with 22 percent who trust Obama most on the war and 17 percent who trust Edwards most. On health care, 66 percent trust her most to handle the issue, compared with 15 percent for Obama and 14 percent for Edwards. Half see Clinton as the candidate who best reflects the "core values" of the Democratic Party.
[emphasis added]
The Clinton campaign is one of the most impressive White House runs in modern history, and is made all the more incredible in light of the strength of the rest of the field: Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, John Edwards, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson are all impressive candidates, and the fact that Hillary has taken a wide lead over all of them speaks volumes about the strength of her campaign.
SOURCES:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...