2 polls say Obama is surging ahead of Clinton in Democratic race

Two new national polls yesterday indicated Barack Obama is surging ahead of Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. In a New York Times-CBS News poll, 54 percent of Democratic primary voters said they would prefer the party to nominate Barack Obama while 38 percent preferred Hillary Clinton. That was a sharp shift in Obama's favor from a poll in late January, when voters were split evenly, 41 percent each for Obama and Clinton.

The poll found similar swings in Obama's favor on other questions. For example, asked how they would vote if the race were between Obama and Republican John McCain, 50 percent said they would support Obama to 38 percent for McCain, while respondents were split evenly, at 46 percent each, when the choice was between McCain and Clinton. Obama gained ground within nearly every sector, the poll found.

In a new Associated Press-Ipsos poll also published yesterday, Obama led Clinton by a narrow margin, 46 percent to 43 percent, whereas Clinton had had a 5-point lead among Democratic primary voters in early February. Obama achieved that swing by advancing on Clinton in several demographic sectors, including white men, liberals, and middle-income earners, the AP reported.

The AP poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, and the Times poll 3 percentage points. Those margins increased to about 5 percentage points when questions were asked of Democrats or Republicans only.

GLOBE STAFF

There won't be a Mitt on the ballot this fall, but there may be a Romney.

Romney's son Josh, a frequent presence on the presidential campaign trail before his dad dropped out of the race, says he is considering running for Congress this year against Jim Matheson, a Democrat representing Utah's Second House district.

"I haven't ruled it out," Romney, 32, was quoted as saying in yesterday's Deseret Morning News, a Salt Lake City daily. "I'm pretty young, but I've had good experience on the campaign trail."

For the time being, Josh Romney said, the family is taking a little time off from politics. He told the paper they skied together at Deer Valley over the weekend. Reflecting on his father's campaign, he said that the loss to former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee in Iowa was a major blow.

"It killed a lot of my dad's momentum, to be honest," he said. "That was really damaging."

If Josh Romney were to enter politics, he would follow in the footsteps of not just his father, but his grandfather, George Romney, who was a three-term Michigan governor and unsuccessful 1968 presidential hopeful.

Josh Romney, one of five Romney brothers, made headlines last year when he procured an RV, dubbed it the "Mitt Mobile," and set a goal of visiting each of Iowa's 99 counties. He often shared his exploits on the brothers' blog, Five Brothers.

SCOTT HELMAN

WARWICK, R.I. - Republican Mike Huckabee said he was looking for support from conservative Republicans in Rhode Island to help him beat front-runner John McCain in next week's presidential primary election.

The former Arkansas governor campaigned in Rhode Island yesterday for the state's March 4 primary.

"The Republican Party in Rhode Island still has many, many conservatives - very prolife," Huckabee told reporters after a visit to the Community Preparatory School in Providence, where he stressed to students the importance of an arts education and briefly played the guitar.

Huckabee said he would not abandon his bid because McCain has not yet won the 1,191 delegates needed to sew up the nomination, and because "anything can happen in an election."

"The path to winning is very complicated for me," he said. "I understand that. The path to losing is real simple: all I've got to do is quit."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON - The Democratic Party filed a complaint against Senator John McCain yesterday, calling on campaign finance regulators to investigate the Republican presidential candidate's decision to withdraw from the primary election's public financing system.

In a letter to the Federal Election Commission, the Democratic National Committee said he cannot reject the public funds because he faces questions about terms of a loan he obtained late last year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS