A New Wave

New Polls, Intriguing Findings

New polls are out. The "horse race" polls are, in the main, nothing new, with the exception of the latest Newsweek poll, which strikes me more as an outlier, compared to daily tracking poll numbers that are probably closer to truth.

First, the horse race numbers.

To start things off, the Newsweek poll shows Obama with a whopping lead over McCain:

... new NEWSWEEK Poll shows that he has a substantial double-digit lead, 51 percent to 36 percent, over McCain among registered voters nationwide.

[snip]

Obama's current lead also reflects the large party-identification advantage the Democrats now enjoy—55 percent of all voters call themselves Democrats or say they lean toward the party while just 36 percent call themselves Republicans or lean that way.

John McCain's Bad Day

It Was a Two-strike Plus Day For John McCain:

A [Media] Afterthought

Lest anybody forget the other part of tonight's story, there were actually two primaries that occurred. You might have heard about them a few days ago (maybe as recently as Sunday, or yesterday). But they certainly got blown off by most of the media tonight (CNN being the exception). I guess in the rush to crown Barack Obama as the Democratic Party nominee (see my earlier post), superdelegates forgot their obligation to let the voters speak and the media forgot (oh, hell, why don't we just say it?) abandoned journalistic integrity in favor of "thrills".

New Polls Show Clinton Closing Gap In MT & SD

Two new polls from American Research Group (ARG) show that Hillary is not only closing the gap (MT), she has a comfortable lead in South Dakota:

DETAILS:

In Montana, Hillary has significantly cut into Obama's lead. She now trails him by just 4 points, 48-44; and in South Dakota, Clinton leads by a whopping 26 points, with 6 percent undecided.

I was one of several volunteers who joined President Bill Clinton today on a conference call. The former president is in South Dakota. He said this about the continued excitement and interest in Hillary's campaign:

"It feels good; we're getting big crowds. People are still undecided; they're still moving. These calls are indispensible, so let's bring it home and finish high tomorrow night."

Hillary Routs Obama In Puerto Rico

Hillary Clinton won more than a numerical victory today in Puerto Rico: she routed Obama, beating him in every income category, every age group, every education group, and among both men and women:

(CNN) — It was a clean sweep for Hillary Clinton in Puerto Rico in every demographic group, even those groups that are usually firmly in Barack Obama's camp.

[snip]

But in the Puerto Rico primary, Clinton won 70 percent of the male vote, 65 percent of voters under 30, 70 percent of voters who attended college, and 66 percent of voters with an income of over $50,000.

[snip]

She won 70 percent of female voters, 77 percent of those over 65, 69 percent who did not attend college, and 71 percent of voters with an income of $15,000 or less.

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Why Is It?: UPDATE I - Gallup Polls

Hillary holds a lead over John McCain in a GE matchup:

PRINCETON, NJ -- John McCain and Barack Obama are now virtually tied at 46% to 45% when registered voters nationally are asked for whom they would vote next November if these were the two presidential nominees, while Hillary Clinton maintains a 48% to 44% margin over McCain in a hypothetical Clinton-McCain matchup.

This information is not new. Polls showing nearly the same results have been widely available for at least three weeks. Thus, President Clinton's recent comments to voters in South Dakota and Montana aren't off-the-wall. I've known about these polls; other bloggers have known about them (and published the findings as often as I have). Where the hell are the media?