In an amazing report tonight, The Politico quotes a GOP source as saying that a poll taken by the campaign of State Rep. Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green) last week showed him trailing Robin Weirauch (D-Napoleon) by four points.
On the ground in Ohio, we’ve been hearing that internal polls showed a close race, and there was an exciting rumor last week that Weirauch’s pollster said she was only down by three points. This race seemed like it was amazingly close for a R+10 district, but still a long shot. Now, with this leak about Latta’s poll, victory looks like a very real possibility tomorrow.
More after the flip.
The story in The Politico also reports that the campaign manager for State Sen. Steve Buehrer (R-Delta) in the GOP primary, Jim Banks, concedes that “there’s an effect from a primary that’s been carried over” and “no one can deny it was a very nasty and physical election.” He also told The Politico that Weirauch “appeals more to the union and working-class voters – the people who are struggling the most and that want the most change,” and that the bread-and-butter issues on which Weirauch has focused “polled at the top of voter concerns during the primary.”
In contrast to Weirauch’s hard-hitting populist campaign, a GOP source reported to The Politico that Latta’s campaign “was unprepared to handle the race’s newfound attention” and the NRCC “had to dispose resources to respond effectively.” The Politico’s source called the Latta’s ground game “lackluster” and said “the NRCC has become the campaign by proxy.”
Robin Weirauch has busted her butt in this campaign and made great use of the resources and volunteers that she never had in her prior two bids for this seat. She has displayed tremendous message discipline, hammering the jobs and working-class values message over and over, along with her theme of “shaking up Washington.” I will be blogging from Weirauch headquarters in Bowling Green tomorrow, where the energy is reported to be sky high and the GOTV effort is cranking along at top speed. Check Ohio Daily Blog for updates.
With the election going down tomorrow I guess it doesn’t matter, but still… I’m a poll junkie, I need my fix!
Good luck Ohioans. GOTV like you never have before!
Who doesn’t love an underdog? 😀
Hope that poll is acurate and Weirauch brings this home tomorrow.
just an effort by Republicans to downplay expectations, especially if they are able to win tomorrow, or why else would they release this one day before an election? This is all just about media spin.
If Robin Weirauch is elected, Democrats will have elected three women to the US House to replace vacancies (Laura Richardson, Nikki Tsongas, Robin Weirauch) this cycle; Republicans would have lost one of their 21 House women (JoAnn Davis) while three others have already announced their retirement (Heather Wilson, Barbara Cubin, Deb Pryce). Democrats already enjoyed a huge edge of around 53 to 21 IIRC. Pattern anybody?