Washington, May 22 (TPM).  Several new polls were released this morning, some breathlessly touted on this site.  All suggest that Democrats have reason for optimism as Barack Obama pivots to the fall election against John McCain, and that enthusiasm for hypothetical noncandidates runs even higher.

First, to the top level of the data:  Democrat Barack Obama runs ahead of John McCain in national polling conducted by Gallup by three points, while defeated Democratic primary candidate Hillary Clinton leads McCain by five, a margin attained only since it has been generally acknowledged and understood that she has lost the primary fight against Senator Obama.  A group of state polls released by Quinnipiac and pointed to by remnants of the Clinton campaign show Clinton defeating McCain in Ohio 48-41 with Obama trailing 44-40, and both Democrats beating McCain in Pennsylvania, but Clinton (50-37) by a greater margin than Obama (46-40).

Second, while Obama presently leads McCain nationally 47-44 in the Gallup tracker, and defeated primary opponent Clinton leads him 49-44, deceased four-term former Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt leads McCain by a substantially more commanding 59-38 margin in recent Gallup polling.  Roosevelt runs particularly well among seniors in Pennsylvania and Florida, exceeding both Obama's and Clinton's performances in those states' polls.

Third, Rasmussen Reports, which polled on a yet wider range of subjects has determined that Marvel Comics superhero Aqua-Man (TM) holds a narrower but statistically significant national lead over McCain, 53-44, with his strength coming from coastal states, and those with marshes and navigable waterways, though McCain leads Aqua-Man by large margins in the more arid intermountain West and upper Great Plains.

Finally, in a poll commissioned by Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, one further poll shows Jesus Christ, were he the Democratic candidate for President this fall, would defeat McCain by the largest margin yet, 73-24.  Christ, the poll indicates, would not only run particularly strongly in the South, but reaches deeply into McCain's Republican base, attracting the great majority of evangelical voters, while also holding onto antiwar voters in the Democratic base, given his preaching to "turn the other cheek" and his promotion of politically controversial commandments, including not killing one's fellow man.

National party head Howard Dean quickly pointed to each poll as a sign of Democratic strength this fall:  "The Democratic Party has great bench strength in this cycle.  Not only will our actual candidate, Barack Obama, win the Presidency this year, but the great excitement surrounding the array of hypothetical noncandidates around whom polling is being conducted show that 2008 is a great Democratic year."

RNC spokesperson Tammy Viner shot back:  "Jim Webb may have crossed over party lines for expediency, but we resent the suggestion that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ belongs to any one party, unless of course that party is the Republican Party.  Aqua-Man, we concede, is a Democrat, though constitutionally ineligible for the Presidency because he was born at sea, as anyone knows.  And Hillary Clinton, well . . ."