Obama widens lead over McCain nationally and in battlegrounds

NEW YORK - US Democratic  presidential hopeful Barack Obama widened his lead over Republican rival John McCain in most national polls and surveys of key states as the U.S. election contest heads into its final full week.

Obama, the Illinois senator, was up by 8 percentage points over McCain in an average of 16 polls taken during the last week, according to RealClearPolitics.com. Last week, Obama was up by about 6 points.

Obama also has built leads in so-called battleground states including Pennsylvania and Ohio and he has an edge over McCain in some states that were Republican strongholds, such as Virginia and North Carolina.