Clinton consolidates her position as Democrat front-runner

Senator Hillary Clinton, who has spent recent months trying to handle an unexpectedly strong challenge from Senator Barack Obama, may now be consolidating her front-runner status with a new poll yesterday showing her taking a double-digit lead in the race for the Democratic nomination.

The poll of USA Today/Gallup showed that Mrs Clinton had a 39 per cent lead over Mr Obama, and a 26 per cent advantage if the Democratic primary races were decided today.

That represented a significant advance for the former first lady who came up one point behind the Illinois Senator in the last such poll taken 1-3 June.

It is not the first survey, however, showing Mrs Clinton apparently re-emerging as the leader everyone else must beat. A Los Angeles Times poll last week also gave her an 11-point edge over Mr Obama.

Significantly, however, the LA Times poll suggested that when the Democrats were lined up against the field of Republican candidates, it was Mr Obama who came out ahead of them while she came behind. It was a finding that is bound to have worried Democrat grandees as they see Mrs Clinton pulling ahead in the Democrat field but not gaining on Republican rivals in an open poll.

Both polls revealed significant gains for Fred Thompson, the former senator and television actor, in the spread of Republican candidates.

Even though the affable Mr Thompson has yet officially to join the race, he is emerging as a powerful challenge to the current Republican leader, the former New York City mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, who has seen his numbers gradually slip over recent weeks.

Yesterday's USA Today survey showed Mr Giuliani with 28 per cent support, compared with 19 per cent for Mr Thompson. The former actor has leapfrogged Senator John McCain of Arizona, who has seen much of the helium escape from his campaign since earlier this year.

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