O-mentum?

More good polling news for Barack Obama:

Barack Obama has now cut the gap with Hillary Clinton to 6 percentage points among Democrats nationally in the Gallup Poll Daily tracking three-day average, and interviewing conducted Tuesday night shows the gap between the two candidates is within a few points. Obama's position has been strengthening on a day-by-day basis. As recently as Jan. 18-20, Clinton led Obama by 20 points. Today's Gallup Poll Daily tracking is based on interviews conducted Jan. 27-29, all after Obama's overwhelming victory in South Carolina on Saturday. Two out of the three nights interviewing were conducted after the high-visibility endorsement of Obama by Sen. Edward Kennedy and his niece Caroline Kennedy.

Clinton's lead in the three-day average is now 42% to Obama's 36%. John Edwards, who dropped out of the race Wednesday after Gallup conducted these interviews, ended his quest for the presidency with 12% support. Wednesday night's interviewing will reflect the distribution of the vote choice of former Edwards' supporters as well as the impact, if any, of Hillary Clinton's popular vote win in Florida on Tuesday.

TNR's Ben Wasserstein -- responding not to this poll, but to the general feeling of Obama momentum in the media and such -- is wary: "There are too many echoes of the post-Iowa period for me to be confident in the media narrative of Obama's ascent. ... [I]t's all starting to look like New Hampshire Redux to me."

Meanwhile, Edwards adviser Joe Trippi says the Clinton and Obama campaigns are "banging down the doors" for an endorsement:

"I don't expect him to do anything today," Trippi said. "His will be a very coveted endorsement. He's got a fairly large following in the party, both on line and off, and I can't think of anybody else who would be bigger or more coveted."

Asked if an endorsement was possible before Feb. 5, something that could have a huge impact, Trippi declined to rule out the possibility. "I'll let him speak to that himself," Trippi said. ...

Asked about the sudden timing of Edwards' decision to leave the race, Trippi declined to elaborate on what precipitated it.

Hmm. As for the question of who Edwards's supporters will naturally gravitate towards, John Judis writes, "I think it's very inconclusive. Clinton will pick up votes from Obama in some Southern states like Georgia that Obama should win anyway—and Obama will pick up a few votes in middle Atlantic or Midwestern states that Clinton will probably win anyway." Fair enough, but remember, none of the Democratic primaries are winner-take-all, so picking off votes here or there actually does matter.

Comments

[rawdawgbuffalo]

i am just afraid that it may result in a negative for Obama. hook, line and sinker