Kelly Ayotte, the Republican candidate...

...for the Senate from New Hampshire who was recently endorsed by Sarah Palin, has opened up a big lead over her nearest rival:

A new PPP (D) survey of the New Hampshire Republican Senate primary finds Kelly Ayotte cruising in first with a huge lead over other would-be Republican nominees. The poll has Ayotte with 47%, rival Bill Binnie with 14%, and the other contenders mired in the single digits.

Ayotte's lead in this PPP poll is the largest she's had. A Magellan poll from late May gave Ayotte only a nine-point leader over Binnie, and a PPP poll from April put Ayotte's lead at 24 points.

What does this mean for the rest of us? Sarah Palin could conceivably win the New Hampshire primary in 2012.