Morning diary: John Edwards strong in the general election

• Rasmussen finds Edwards strong nationally

Rasmussen has just released a national poll pitting John Edwards against John McCain and Mitt Romney, and finds the Democrat expanding the leads he had a month ago. Against McCain, Edwards leads 47% to 38%, while he beats Romney by a massive 50% to 34%. This is much better than both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do against McCain, as they are both about tied with the Arizona Senator in Rasmussen polls.

Two days after the Philadelphia debate, that supposedly so hurt Hillary Clinton, it is useful to look at Rasmussen's tracking poll, which now has Clinton at 43%, followed by Obama at 21% and Edwards at 11% -- roughly what it was before the debate. So for now at least, the Hillary has stumbled storyline isn't confirmed by polls. Though it could still happen after a few more days of evolving media narrative.

• Senate news update

The Washington Post thinks it is now likely that Tom Udall jumps in the New Mexico Senate race, confirming information that I reported on Thursday. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish has announced she will definitely not run for Senate because she wants to stay in New Mexico, which ensures she is running for Governor in 2010 (and that she likely will have the field all to herself). Denish had also been heavily recruited by the DSCC who viewed her as much more competitive than Chavez, so the fact that she took herself out of consideration is further indication that the DSCC is confident that Udall will end up jumping in -- and starting off the race the favorite.

In other Senate news, Mount Blogmore gave hope to Republicans yesterday by reporting that Governor Rounds had visited the NRSC headquarters in Washington, which would imply he was thinking about jumping in the South Dakota Senate race against Democratic incumbent Tim Johnson. This would be amazing news for the GOP indeed, and surprising one at that since all indications were that Rounds was staying out this cycle. However, Rounds's camp said that he did absolutely not visit the NRSC, as reported by the blog who said he had. Rounds is likely not lying, but still something to keep an eye on.