Hillary Clinton solidifies her lead in Democratic race

DAVID LAUTER

Maybe it was the debate or maybe just the race snapping back to its natural pattern after an aberrant month or so, but whatever the reason, Hillary Rodham Clinton appears to be firmly back in the lead of the Democratic presidential fight.

The evidence comes from three new national polls.

A Washington Post/ABC News poll has Clinton leading Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont by 54% to 23%, with Vice President Joe Biden, who hasn't said whether he'll run, at 16%. That's a big shift from last month, when a Post/ABC survey put Clinton at 42%.

Sanders' support has not changed, but Biden's waned, the poll found.

An NBC/Wall Street Journal survey also showed Clinton widening her lead in the race. Clinton led Sanders, 49%-29%, with Biden at 15% in that poll.

Without Biden in the race, Clinton led Sanders, 58%-33%, in the NBC/WSJ poll. Unlike the Post/ABC survey, this one showed support for Sanders dropping compared with a predebate survey.

A third poll, for Reuters by the Ipsos polling firm, showed a similarly large Clinton lead. And a poll this week by CNN showed Clinton, the former secretary of State, leading Sanders, 45%-29%, with Biden at 18%.

The polling figures are significant for a couple of reasons. They might contribute to deterring Biden from running. They also have calmed a jittery mood among prominent Clinton backers who, a month ago, were starting to panic over mediocre poll results. And they come as Clinton prepares for a showdown Thursday with Republicans on the House committee investigating the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012.