Barack Obama jumped to his largest national lead of the year in a new Gallup poll, pulling ahead of Hillary Clinton 52% to 42%. The figure marks the Illinois senator’s third consecutive lead, and the first double-digit lead since Hillary chalked up a 11% lead over Barack in early February.
Obama appears to have weathered the controversy over his link to firebrand preacher Jeremiah Wright; Clinton has been hurt by the flap over her misstatement that she dodged sniper fire during a 1996 Bosnia trip and pressure by some prominent Democrats to drop out of the race, reports the Chicago Tribune. GOP contender John McCain leads Clinton by 4% and Obama by 3% in the Gallup poll. (More Barack Obama stories.)