There's been a rush of new polls this morning, but one stands out above the rest. The California Field Poll has long been considered the "gold standard" of California polls, and it shows a dramatic tightening in favor of Obama. In fact, the race is now too close to call:
A startling surge of support for Barack Obama has catapulted the Illinois senator into a virtual tie with Hillary Rodham Clinton in California's Democratic presidential primary, a Field Poll released Saturday shows.
[snip]
But the Democratic numbers are the shocker. Clinton, a longtime California favorite, saw her once-commanding lead slip to two percentage points, 36 to 34 percent, in the new survey. That's down from the New York senator's 12 percentage point lead in mid-January and a 25 percentage point margin over Obama in October.
But with 18 percent of Democratic voters still undecided just days before Tuesday's primary, the election is still up for grabs, said Mark DiCamillo, the poll's director.
Again, with all the new polls out there, one might wonder why this one is more important than the others. Some background from the local bloggers at Calitics:
The Field Poll is the gold standard of California political polls. I always trust the Field Poll when it's in conflict with another.
Other California experts agree:
Field has been polling in California since 1947 and is widely respected, dubbed the "gold standard" by many political observers.
So, we're neck and neck with a lot of undecideds. And Obama clearly has the momentum. Fasten your seatbelts. Looks like extreme turbulence ahead.