On September 27, South Dakota Republicans were in quite the
braggart mood:
Internal polling provided by the Rounds for Senate campaign says former Republican Gov. Mike Rounds maintains an 18-point lead over his closest challenger.
About ten days later, Republicans were saying things like
this:
Those internal polls, Republicans say, show their nominee, former Gov. Mike Rounds, with a low double-digit lead of 11 to 14 percentage points over independent Larry Pressler and Democrat Rick Weiland.
Rounds is crushing it! Nothing to see here! Move on!
And then, two days later, Republicans announced they were spending $1 million in a state where their candidate had a 14-point lead, or maybe it was 11. That totally proved they actually thought their candidate was safe, up double digits.
Today?
.@NRSC ED: #SDSEN "a tight race but we're still up 6-7pts… Dems… have to in 19 days destroy presser then go beat rounds"
— @cam_joseph
By their own admission, the race is now a real dogfight, particularly given how
unreliable three-way polling has historically been. Throw in the fact that Republicans aren't releasing the actual numbers, and all I'm hearing is "holy shit, it's close!"
In fact, if Rounds has gone from +18 to +14 to +6 ... then maybe it's Rounds that has to worry about the trendlines.
Truth is, it is close. That's why you can't sit on the sidelines. If you've given already (to this or any other race), then thanks for engaging. If you haven't, what are you waiting for? A tiny $3, times thousands of us, adds up to real money. This race is real, it's tight, and by supporting Weiland and GOTV in American Indian reservations, you can help upgrade the number of true progressives in the Senate, and keep control of the chamber.
Update: Oh, look at that. Rounds was up 25 in August.