Evening Polls: Clinton leading nationally, but not in Kansas

• Fox News's national poll

Fox News/Opinion came out with a new national poll of the general election, matching Clinton up against the four major Republican candidates. Hillary Clinton leads all four of her match-ups.

• Against Giuliani, Clinton leads 47% to 43%. At the end of September, it was a 46-39% lead, but in ten previous trials Clinton had never gone as far up as 47%! The two are tied 41-41 among independents.
• Against Thompson, Clinton has a 50% to 38% lead. She leads 45-32 among independents.
• Against McCain, Clinton wins 47% to 44%. It was 46-39 in September, but here too Clinton had never reached 47%.
• Against Romney, Clinton leads 50 to 38%.
• Fox News also tried a three-way race: Clinton-Giuliani-Christian candidate. The third party candidate gets 14%, and Clinton leads by 10% (44 to 34%).

It is worth undescoring how far Clinton has come in the past few months. In late 2004, she trailed McCain 53-37. In early 2006, she trailed Giuliani 51-39! Even in the first poll taken in 2007 she was behind 49-40 against Rudy! Clinton's poll numbers have slowly creeped up in the past few months. Is it a reflection of how bad things have gotten for the GOP? Or of how much Clinton has been able to improve her image?

• GOP keeps Kansas

Yesterday's SUSA poll had Clinton leading in red Kentucky, but the GOP has a hold on redder Kansas. The new SUSA poll out today shows all Republican candidates handily beating Hillary. This poll has no real value, given how improbable it is that any Democrat get anywhere close here (Bush won by more than 25% in 2004):

• Giuliani is leading 54% to 37% against Clinton, which is actually a decent showing for Hillary.
• She does even better against Thompson (53-40), Romney (51-39), Huckabee (50-41), and Ron Paul (44-42).
• McCain does best against Hillary, beating her 60% to 34%.