The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Washington

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has opened the general election campaign with a six-point lead over Republican John McCain, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Wednesday.

Obama, an Illinois senator, leads McCain among registered voters, 47 to 41 percent. In the previous NBC/Journal poll in late April, Obama was leading the Arizona senator by three points, 46 percent to 43 percent. Among respondents who said they voted for Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries, 61 percent favored Obama and 19 percent said they preferred McCain.

The poll found Obama leading McCain among African Americans, Hispanics, women and blue-collar workers.

Among white men, who made up 36 percent of the electorate in the 2004 presidential election, McCain has a 20-point lead over Obama, 55 percent to 35 percent, NBC reported.

Obama's lead over McCain expands when New York Sen. Hillary Clinton is added as Obama's running mate, the poll found. An Obama-Clinton ticket would defeat a Republican one of McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by nine points, 51 percent to 42 percent, NBC said.

Both presidential candidates are in the process of selecting a running mate.

Both Obama and McCain have promised "change" if they are elected to succeed U.S. President George W. Bush in the November 4 presidential election. In the poll, 54 percent of respondents said they were looking for a president who would bring greater changes to current policies, even if that person is less experienced and tested, NBC reported. Forty-two percent said they preferred a more experienced and tested person become president, even it means fewer changes.

The NBC/Journal poll of 1,000 voters was conducted from Friday through Monday. Clinton ended her bid for the White House on Saturday. The survey has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

Another report adds: Democrat Barack Obama was roiled by another campaign scandal Wednesday when a key advisor resigned amid damaging reports that he had received preferential home loans.

Although Jim Johnson, who has been leading the hunt for a vice presidential candidate, denies any favorable treatment, the accusations could dent Obama's image as an untarnished newcomer who has vowed to clean up Washington politics.

Johnson, a former chief executive of mortgage giant Fannie Mae, resigned just hours after Obama took part in a round table in Chicago highlighting the impact of predatory lending on Americans.

Millions have lost their homes over the past two years, unable to keep up with soaring mortgage payments. Some 1.5 million foreclosures were initiated in 2007, marking a 53 percent spike from the prior year, according to the Federal Reserve. Johnson has denied a weekend Wall Street Journal report that he may have received favorable treatment from Countrywide Financial-a bank Obama has sharply criticized for its role in the subprime lending crisis-while he was at Fannie Mae.

But the Washington Post further alleged Wednesday that Johnson benefited from an earnings manipulation in 1998 which allowed the company's executives to earn large bonuses, pocketing some 1.9 million dollars. Obama said in a statement that Johnson had resigned because he "did not want to distract in any way from the very important task of gathering information about my vice presidential nominee."

The 46-year-old Obama, who has campaigned with a call to change, has vowed to reject all contributions from lobbyists and to rid politics of corruption and self-interest.

His Republican rival John McCain, who regularly vows to get rid of "pork barrel" spending in Washington, has been criticized for giving lobbyists key positions in his campaign.

McCain has lost five advisors in recent weeks, two of whom had lobbied for the Myanmar junta while others had lobbied on behalf of Saudi Arabia or Russia.

In the ethics war, McCain's campaign jumped on reports of Johnson's alleged conflict of interest to accuse Obama of hypocrisy and poor judgment.

"The American people have reason to question the judgment of a candidate who has shown he will only make the right call when under pressure from the news media," McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement.