Democrat gains ground after Allen gaffe

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060910/ap_on_el_se/virginia_senate_poll;_ylt=AsVDP2lXZCUPaKEVn0va4uiyFz4D;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

Democrat gains ground after Allen gaffe

By BOB LEWIS, AP Political Writer 43 minutes ago

RICHMOND, Va. - Democratic Senate candidate Jim Webb has nearly erased a commanding lead Republican Sen. George Allen (news, bio, voting record) held six weeks ago, according to an independent statewide poll published Sunday.


In its first survey since Allen's now-famous insult to a man of Indian descent a month ago, Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. found 46 percent of those interviewed supported Allen and 42 percent backed Webb. Twelve percent were undecided.

Because the margin of error for the poll is plus or minus 4 percentage points, the race could be seen as about even. Support for an independent candidate, Gail Parker, was not measured in the poll.

The survey found a dramatic narrowing of the 16-point lead Allen held in the same poll conducted in late July, when 48 percent backed Allen, 32 percent preferred Webb and 20 percent were undecided.

Allen, a cowboy-booted .........

[bluestateguy]

1. Mason-Dixon always shows the Republican ahead

So my guess is that Webb is ahead with a Margin of Error lead.

[Parisle]

2. Things have changed,....

---- This is not the same Virginia that was home to the Last Capital of the Confederacy,.. nor is it the same Virginia that went for Republicans the last few presidential elections. The governorships of Warner, and now Kaine, are testimony to how Virginians' thinking has changed. I look for an especially good democratic turn-out in November,.. and Mr. Allen could be Senatorial history.

[Kagemusha]

3. But the bloggers are all resigned to Webb losing. (Or so it seems)

Because Webb doesn't understand how he has to personally beg for money and therefore is unsuitable to be in politics because his heart isn't in it enough, like the bloggers' hearts are in it.

Or at least that's what I've read in some quarters on the left.

[Monkeyman]

4. I hope Webb hit him with stealing Durbin Amendment

[Demeter]

5. Perhaps The American People Aren't As Totally Corrupt as the GOP

Maybe there is some redeeming value to the nation as a nation.

[nasher]

6. Virginia has been trending towards Democrats over the years

Webb could pull this off.

[NorthernSpy]

7. that was no "gaffe"

Using the wrong fork is a "gaffe".

What we got a glimpse of in the "macaca" incident was Allen's true character peeking through the mask of respectability:

Beyond Macaca: The Photograph That Haunts George Allen