Poll: Democrat Kerry Opens Big Leads in Missouri, Arizona

John Kerry, on a roll after winning the first two Democratic presidential contests, has opened big leads in Missouri and Arizona and is challenging for the top spot in South Carolina and Oklahoma, according to a Reuters/MSNBC/Zogby poll released on Friday.

Kerry has opened a 34-point lead in Missouri and a 21-point lead in Arizona, and trails John Edwards by 1 point in South Carolina and Wesley Clark by 8 points in Oklahoma in a three-day tracking poll of the four states.

Howard Dean, the one-time front-runner whose high-flying campaign has plummeted dramatically in recent weeks, was in third place in Arizona, Missouri and South Carolina and fourth place in Oklahoma. Arizona was the only state where Dean registered double-digit support, at 12 percent.