Steeling Obama: Recent controversies have only strengthened his campaign.

LAT

Conventional wisdom suggests that these last two months have been bad news for Barack Obama. He hasn't been able to close the door on Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton, who swept West Virginia on Tuesday. He's been dogged by controversies over his words and associates. Meanwhile, Republican John McCain has been getting a jump-start on the fall campaign.

Although those things may be true, so is this: The last six weeks have been a great benefit to Obama -- and may emerge as the most important period of his quest for the presidency.

The poll evidence is unambiguous: He's suffered no short-term damage. A recent Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll shows Obama leading McCain in a hypothetical matchup by six points; in February, he was trailing by two. The Rasmussen Reports' estimate of electoral college strength has him leading McCain, 260 to 240. And a recent CBS/New York Times poll reveals that over the last few weeks, Obama's favorability rating actually increased by five points............