An internal poll shows Bill Durston in a statistical dead heat with Dan Lungren. From the email to supporters:
We've just received great news from a poll of 500 likely voters conducted by the respected polling firm, Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, and Associates. Dr. Bill Durston is in a statistical dead heat with Dan Lungren in California's 3rd Congressional District!
When voters were asked who they would vote for if they were to vote today, 33% chose Lungren, 30%, chose Bill, 7% chose another candidate, and 30% were undecided. With a margin of error of 4%, the differences between Bill and Lungren were not statistically significant.
After hearing a positive profile about both Lungren and Bill, the tallies were even closer - 39% for Lungren and 38% for Bill. After hearing about some of Lungren's many shortcomings, including his Hawaii vacation paid for by special interests, his allegiance to the Bush-Cheney administration, and his fondness for taking money from Big Oil, voters chose Bill over Lungren by a margin of 43% to 34%, a difference which is highly statistically significant.
This shouldn't surprise anybody. CA-03 is the seat with the smallest registration gap between the parties that's currently held by a Republican, and by November I'll be willing to bet that gap will be almost erased. Durston won't have all the money to get out the "balanced" information about him and his opponent, but he will be competitive.
This could be a good time for outside groups to jump in. CA-03 is one of those under-the-radar seats nationwide that is very, very winnable, and a late push could easily put Durston over the top. Furthermore, he's a solid progressive Democrat who supports single-payer. At least one group is helping out. Bill Durston is one of the over 100 Progressive Patriots who are benefiting from Russ Feingold's efforts. Russ Warner (CA-26) was added to the Progressive Patriots "Expand the Map" program today, and Charlie Brown and Jerry McNerney are members as well.
This would be a good time to support Bill Durston. |
