Clinton and Richardson get bump in NH polls after debate

A new poll of likely Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire shows Hillary Clinton surging far ahead of the field, and Bill Richardson also picking up support.

The WBZ/Franklin Pierce College poll shows Clinton extending her lead to 22 percentage points over Barack Obama. In the previous poll by the same outfit in March, Clinton held just a seven-point lead.

The poll questioned 424 likely Democratic primary voters yesterday, the day after Democrats held a debate in Manchester. The margin of error was 4.8 percent.

The survey showed Clinton with 38 percent support, up 6 percentage points since March. Obama slipped nine percentage points to 16 percent, while John Edwards also dropped three points to 13 percent.

Al Gore -- who is not even in the race -- and Richardson both had 8 percent. That was a gain of 5 percentage points for the New Mexico governor, while Gore's support declined by two points.