Iowa Poll Shows Surge By N.Y. Senator

NEW HAMPTON, Iowa — Senator Clinton has taken the lead among Democratic presidential candidates in an Iowa poll, an encouraging sign of progress toward overcoming a big hurdle in the race. Mrs. Clinton was supported by 29% of the 399 respondents to the poll conducted October 1–3, compared with 21% in May.

Messrs. Edwards and Obama are not far behind, ensuring that all three campaigns will continue their intense efforts in Iowa, which leads off voting in the 2008 primary contests.

Mr. Edwards told reporters in Davenport that he thinks it's "important to Iowa caucus-goers to see you in the flesh — see you stand before them, look them in the eye, and answer their hard questions."

Mrs. Clinton got one of those hard questions in New Hampton, and it led to a heated exchanged. Randall Rolph of Nashua challenged her for voting last month to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization. Some Democrats said they feared that such a designation could be interpreted as a congressional authorization of military force in Iran.

Mr. Rolph compared Mrs. Clinton's vote on the Iran measure with her vote to authorize war in Iraq. "It appears you haven't learned from your past mistakes," he said. Mrs. Clinton responded that his interpretation was wrong and suggested that someone put him up to asking the question. The man said he did his own research and was offended that she would accuse him of getting it elsewhere. She apologized but insisted he must be looking at the wrong version of the bill.

While Mrs. Clinton visited small towns in eastern Iowa, Mr. Edwards was in the midst of a four-day tour of the state that included stops in 17 counties. The new poll showed his support at 23%. That is a statistical tie with Mr. Obama's 22%. The poll has a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.