04.02.06
Chris Bell Moving Up In The Polls
Off The Kuff has the round-up, It takes only a plurality.
The latest Zogby-WSJ online poll for the Texas Governor’s race is out, and guess what? Chris Bell is ahead of Carole Keeton Strayhorn. With the pre-primary DMN poll, that’s two out of three showing Bell to be the leading contender against Rick Perry (the dissenter was the also pre-primary Rasmussen result).
Makes you wonder at what point people are going to start noticing this sort of thing and saying to themselves “Hey, maybe Strayhorn isn’t the only one who can beat Rick Perry. Maybe she can’t beat him at all. Maybe someone else can.”
He also points out a site I hadn’t visited yet, heard about, but hadn’t visited yet the Lone Star Report. They have a vote simulator where you can grind out your own results by typing in a few numbers. The Lone Star Report along with several other articles linked in the Off The Kuff post linked above, show that Strayhorn has a hard road and Chris Bell’s is much more realistic. Here’s what Chris Bell’s campaign had to say about the WSJ poll numbers:
First, Chris has closed the gap with Rick Perry by 5 points since January as Perry slides into the mid-30s. I’m sticking with my line on his Perry. His poll numbers are like a weather forecast for a Dallas winter. In a plurality, Rick Perry’s 36.3% stands out there in the middle of the road like future roadkill.
Second, Chris shows a gain relative to Foghorn Strayhorn, with a 4.3% swing away from her and towards Chris as he begins to consolidate Democrats. To bleed 1.5% with high name ID, millions of dollars spent in statewide advertising, and huge press coverage during her petition drive doesn’t tell a happy story. To do so when the other major Republican in the race was also bleeding support doesn’t indicate that she has effectively positioned herself as the most credible alternative. A lot of hot air is keeping her ballon inflated, but just barely. Say it with me, everyone: She is an Austin insider mirage. And this poll shows the haze might be starting to lift.
Third, Chris is the only candidate with a credible win scenario who shows momentum in this poll. All we have to do is to get one more vote than Rick Perry, and with his clear primary win, this poll shows that he has started climbing that mountain.
At this point it looks like if you want Perry out, you need to vote for Chris Bell.