By Pamela Gentry
BET News Senior Political Producer
Pamela’s Blog

There’s some good news from state of California for Sen. Barack Obama. A new poll released today finds more folks shifting dramatically towards his candidacy and away from both Sen. Hillary Clinton’s and John McCain’s.This trend could put the damper on Clinton’s argument that she is the only one who can win the states she’s won in the primary come the general election.  Clinton beat Obama in California’s  primary February.

The survey was conducted over the past 10 days by the Public Policy Institute of California and found 59 percent of likely voters have a “favorable impression” of Obama compared  to 51 percent of voters who say they have an “unfavorable” impression of Clinton.

The presumptive Republican nominee John McCain didn’t fair much better than Clinton; 53 percent of the voters said they have an unfavorable opinion of the Arizona senator.

With only a few primary contests remaining, Obama is spending some campaign time working to woo voters he’ll need in November should he be the nominee. Today, he gave a speech  to the B’nai Torah Congregation  in Boca Raton, F la., and laid out his views on issues impacting Israel.

But there will be one diversion from the campaign trail this holiday weekend.  The freshman senator will be filling in for his colleague and friend Sen. Edward Kennedy on Sunday when he delivers the commencement address at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.

Kennedy who was diagnosed earlier this week with a malignant brain tumor asked Obama if he could be his backup.  “Considering what he’s done for me and for our country, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him. So I’m looking forward to standing in his place on Sunday even though I know I won’t be able to fill his shoes,” Obama said.