After Hillary Clinton had closed the gap in North Carolina to single digits a few weeks ago, Barack Obama has rebounded strongly to take a large lead in the state, according to Rasmussen Reports:

In North Carolina, Barack Obama has opened up a twenty-three percentage point lead over Hillary Clinton. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that Obama attracts 56% of the vote while Clinton earns 33%. A month ago, Obama's lead was just seven percentage points.

While the absolute numbers are different, the trend is similar to results from Pennsylvania where Obama gained ten-points on Clinton during the month of March.

Perhaps the only disturbing news for Obama in the survey is that most Clinton voters (56%) say they are not likely to vote for the Illinois Senator in the general election against John McCain. A month ago, 45% of Clinton voters said they were not likely to vote for Obama against McCain

Read the whole story at the above link. Rasmussen does an automated telephone poll, so the response rate would be useful information to have in evaluating his potential accuracy - but it's the same method he has used all along, so the trend should be reliable. The trend is toward Obama.

Hillary has to be kicking herself. After Obama fell into difficulties for the first time in the campaign a few weeks ago, her support had surged, revitalizing her flagging campaign. So, what happened since then? Obviously, the major news event affecting her chances was being caught in a bald-faced lie about landing in Tuzla "under sniper fire," which reminded voters of her troubled relationship with the truth (she reportedly told the federal grand jury investigating her Rose Law Firm billing records - the ones under subpoena for over two years before a low-level aide "found" them in Hillary's private library - "I don't recall" some 147 times . . . can we afford a President with such a weak memory?).

Obama should send her a "Thank You" card for bailing him out - or rather, giving the fawning press a reason to stop asking him tough questions and pile on Hillary instead. It could be a gag card, maybe with a front reading, "BANG! BANG! BANG!" and the inside saying, "No, it isn't 'sniper fire,' - but you're dead anyway!"