Clinton Having a Good New England Week

Senator Hillary Clinton should be enjoying her New England spring.

A new New Hampshire poll released today shows her leaping well above the rest of the field after what was widely interpreted as a strong performance in the Democratic candidates' debate in Manchester on Sunday. The Franklin Pierce College/WBZ poll of 424 likely Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire found that 38 percent said they would vote for Clinton if the ballot were today, to 16% for Barack Obama and 13% for John Edwards.

That's a lead of 22 percentage points for Clinton, far higher than the seven-point lead she held in the last poll by the same outfit in March. The latest survey was conducted on Monday, the day after the debate. And the results suggest that Clinton's performance in the debate was a factor in her surge -- 45 percent of those surveyed said they felt Clinton won the debate, to just eight percent for Obama and four percent for Edwards.

Clinton also has done well with New England endorsements this week. On Monday, she won the endorsement of Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino. And today she earned another round of endorsements in Massachusetts, securing the support of Suffolk Sheriff Andrea Cabral and 11 state legislators.

On Wednesday night, Menino will join Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, at a fundraising event in Boston's Back Bay area.

Of course, the New York senator might not want to emphasize that the Yankees took two out of three from the Red Sox over the weekend.