Two New Polls Show Obama Up Big in Va.

Two polls released today show Barack Obama leading Republican rival John McCain by double digits in Virginia, giving the Illinois Democrat his biggest bump there of the 2008 race.

McCain and Obama have traded the lead in Virginia since Obama bested Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) for the Democratic nomination in June. Since then, neither candidate has led by more than nine percentage points in any major poll, and it has been rare for polls to agree on who leads; polls conducted on the same days have, at times, yielded different results.

The two latest surveys, conducted by SurveyUSA and Suffolk University, show Obama leading by 10 and 12 percentage points, respectively, placing the Democrat comfortably outside the margin of error in both.

Those numbers contradict a recent Mason-Dixon survey, released last Thursday, which showed the two candidates locked in a statistical dead heat in Virginia. McCain led in that survey by three percentage points.

No other major Virginia polls have been released this month. Ten major firms and universities have conducted surveys there since June, meaning more are likely on the way.

Virginia has rated high on Obama’s list of targets among states that voted for President Bush in 2004, along with Iowa, New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada. The state has generated excitement particlarly among Democrats in 2008, as former Gov. Mark Warner (D) leads former Gov. Jim Gilmore (R) in one of the nation’s most highly publicized Senate races.