US:HILLARY CLINTON opened an opinion poll lead over Barack Obama for the first time in weeks yesterday in the wake of the row over his pastor's sermons that have forced him on the defensive.
With the controversy over Rev Jeremiah Wright's "God damn America" comments reverberating, Mr Obama's campaign faces its biggest test since he announced he would stand for the presidency.
In a nationwide Gallup poll of Democrats published yesterday, Mrs Clinton established a significant lead - 49 per cent to 42 per cent - after trailing Mr Obama since early last month. Other polls showed her increasing her previously slim leads in key states, including Pennsylvania, which holds its primary next month.
The polls were conducted before Mr Obama's speech on Tuesday in which he dealt at length with the controversy. His campaign team was yesterday awaiting the first polls that will show whether the speech has helped undo some of the damage.
A Franklin and Marshall poll in Pennsylvania, taken after Mr Wright's comments were shown on the internet and television, put Mrs Clinton on 51 per cent and Mr Obama on 35 per cent.
Mark Penn, Mrs Clinton's strategy chief, said yesterday: "There are some pretty big changes happening out there with the voters. Barack Obama recently declared himself the front runner in the race . . . but a look at the polls show that Senator Obama's lead nationally with Democrats has been evaporating."
Mrs Clinton was on the campaign trail yesterday in Indiana, which holds its primary on May 6th, while Mr Obama was in West Virginia, which votes on May 13th.
There are only 10 contests left. In spite of the setback for Mr Obama, the arithmetic still favours him securing the Democratic nomination.
He remains ahead in the tally of delegates who will decide the nomination with 1,617 to Mrs Clinton's 1,498, and it will be extremely difficult for her to catch up.
Her hopes were not helped yesterday by the passing of a deadline for Michigan to decide on rerunning its primary. Legislators in Michigan broke up for a two-week break without finding a solution. Mrs Clinton has been banking on Michigan and Florida rerunning their primaries in expectation of wins in both, but the chances of reruns are fast fading.
Her best hope is that the Wright row will continue to damage Mr Obama and that she wins strongly enough in Pennsylvania on April 22nd to make Democrats rethink whether he is capable of taking the White House.
The row could be given further life next week when Mr Wright is due to speak at an annual meeting of a Fellowship Church in Tampa Bay, Florida. Members of the congregation in Tampa Bay say, as do their counterparts in Chicago, the snippets of his sermons on the internet and television misrepresent his overall, moderate beliefs. Even if Mr Wright was to deliver a temperate speech, a media presence will keep the row alive.
Mr Obama's team tried to divert attention yesterday by going on the offensive. He made a speech on the economy while his team claimed Mrs Clinton had been misleading the public about the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada, which many Americans blame for job losses. Bill Clinton signed the agreement, but Mrs Clinton has since tried to distance herself from it.