Crossposted from Hillbilly Report.
With the Republican Senate primary Soap Opera starting its second season, all has been pretty quiet along the western front on the Democratic side. However, a poll released by the Mongiardo campaign has stirred up the Democratic race as both campaigns sparred over the poll today.
First the results of the poll:
The poll of 336 registered Democrats showed Mongiardo beating Conway 43 percent to 28 percent, with 29 percent undecided. According to a memo from Mongiardo's pollster, Garin Hart Yang Research of Washington, D.C., the poll was conducted May 12 and 13 and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 5.4 percent.
The Mongiardo campaign is claming a 46 percent to 26 percent lead among "core" Democrats, defined as those who voted in the 2007 or 2008 primary elections.
Kim Geveden, Mongiardo's spokesman had this to say about the poll:
"Kentucky Democrats want someone with a record of standing up for working families," Mongiardo spokesman Kim Geveden said in a statement. "That's why grassroots Democrats are supporting Daniel Mongiardo."
http://news.cincinnati.com/...
However, the Conway campaign disagreed not only with the poll but with it's methodology and questioned why more information was not realeased:
Riddle criticized the polling's methodology and wondered why more of it was not released.
"A polling sub sample of 336 interviews in a major statewide election is not considered credible," Riddle said. "It has a wildly high margin of error.
He also touted another poll that showed Conway as a very strong candidate:
"The only independent public poll shows that Attorney General Jack Conway is the only Democrat" who can defeat potential GOP candidates, Riddle said.
Riddle was referring to an early April poll done by Public Policy Polling of North Carolina that showed Conway ahead of Grayson and Bunning. The poll of 610 Kentucky voters carried a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.
Geveden then fired back about a fundraiser that Jack Conway will be attending:
Conway is scheduled to attend a Saturday night fundraiser at the Fort Mitchell home of Nathan Smith, the former vice chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party. Geveden noted that the suggested contributions for the event are $250 to attend the fundraiser, but for $1,000 contributors can attend a "private conversation" with Conway.
"If Jack is charging $1,000 for a private conversation I can't imagine what it would cost if he was ever elected U.S. Senator," Geveden said in an interview. "You don't have to pay $1 much less $1,000 to have a private conversation with Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo."
Now, I must admit that I have been able to meet and speak with Mongiardo for free several times as an undecided voter. This statement is true by Geveden.
One of the reasons I am undecided is that I can also agree with this comment from Smith too:
Smith dismissed Geveden's comment, saying it is a common practice for multi-tiered contribution levels at political fundraisers, including more exclusive opportunities for the largest donors. He also pointed out that Geveden has run losing campaigns in the past, including Mongiardo's narrow loss to Bunning in 2004.
"I would like for Kim Geveden to spend more time running a campaign and less time attacking me," Smith said. "He hasn't been real successful in some of his past races."
Unfortunately that statement does annoy me somewhat as a former Fischer supporter, one of the campaigns Geveden worked on. I guess sometimes truth hurts.
Geveden fired back:
"While Jack Conway's campaign engages in personal negative attacks," Geveden responded, "Daniel Mongiardo is focused on improving the lives of Kentucky families who are struggling in these tough economic times. That is why Daniel Mongiardo has a 20-point lead."
So, while I am still undecided I want to thank both campaigns for getting out there and mixing it up. I look forward to following this campaign until it's conclusion!!