This story is somewhat troubling:
A new poll shows Democratic U.S. Rep. Julia Carson narrowly trailing Republican Eric Dickerson -- an outcome that, if it holds on Election Day, would be one of the biggest upsets in Indiana politics.
Dickerson led Carson 45 percent to 42 percent in the poll conducted for WTHR (Channel 13), The Indianapolis Star's news-gathering partner.
Now, I don't want to sound like a "concern troll", but this is somewhat shocking result. As disclosure, I worked on Rep. Carson's first Congressional campaign and on the Hill for her in her first term in the late '90s, so I check in periodically on what's going on in her race.
While it's true that indeed pollsters tend to do inaccurate polls of the 7th, previously the 10th, District in Indiana, what concerns me here is the Rep. Carson had a 20 point lead a few months back, and Dickerson is now on top.
More importantly, in the past Republicans on the national level have poured lots of money into Indianapolis to try and take out Rep. Carson. But it appears that Dickerson only has raised around $21,000, doesn't have any media presence and is running a primarily grassroots campaign.
So while the polls in past races indeed were proven wrong, there was at least some sort of basis for the Republican to be running somewhat decent against Rep. Carson -- money, ads, etc.
But here, it appears Dickerson is leading merely by advocating a change message in IN-07.
I know there are some issues that are resonating in this race, including charges of mudslinging by Rep. Carson and concerns about Rep. Carson's health. Personally, because of the health issues, I would have preferred if Rep. Carson stepped aside this year and let someone else have a shot. It's a Democratic district, and could be won easily.
Carson's GOTV machine is pretty good, so this might not be anything to worry about. But when you've got an election as important as this one, we can't afford to LOSE any seat.
Anybody in Indiana/Indianapolis got a better grip of what's going on there on the ground?