Obama surges past Clinton in national poll

Wed Feb 20, 2008

By John Whitesides
Reuters

MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - Barack Obama has surged past Hillary Clinton to open a big national lead in the Democratic presidential race, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

Obama also leads Republican front-runner John McCain in a potential November election match-up while Clinton trails McCain, enhancing Obama's argument he is the Democrat with the best shot at capturing the White House.

Among Republicans, McCain has a substantial national lead over his last major challenger, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, as he takes his final steps toward clinching the nomination.

Heading into crucial March 4 nominating contests in Ohio and Texas, Obama has gained the upper hand in a close and fierce Democratic duel with Clinton. McCain broke open the Republican race and has driven out most of his leading rivals.

The poll showed Obama with a 14-point edge over Clinton, 52 percent to 38 percent, after being in a statistical tie with the New York senator last month.

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