Alex Sink’s polling shows her with a 45-44 edge over rival Rick Scott in the governor’s race. Hamilton Campaigns surveyed 1,000 voters last week and finds Sink with a slight edge, according to a memo sent today by Hamilton Campaigns to the Sink campaign.

The margin of error is 3.1 percent. Once ahead in most polls, Sink trails Scott in polls released this week by CNN/Time/Opinion Research Corp. and Qunnipiac University.

From Hamilton Campaigns’ memo:

 

Polls are coming out almost every day now. We should ignore the public polling and continue to drive home the contrast between Rick Scott, who cannot be trusted, compared to Alex Sink’s history of helping small businesses and her plan to improve the economy and strengthen education.

Our own recent poll results show that we remain in a dead heat with Scott (45% Sink –44% Scott – 2% someone else – 8% undecided).

 

 

Alex is viewed as a credible and believable candidate. The national political mood is not to blame for how tight the race is; instead, it is attributable to the over $60 million Scott has spent on television. In the past ten days alone, he has outspent the Sink campaign by $2.6 million.

We should not react to the public polling, which has fluctuated wildly and has frequentlyhad very glaring demographic errors. For example, recent CNN polling failed to report results for Tampa Bay, the largest market in the state at 25%, or report results for black and Hispanic voters, who will account for over 23% of the electorate. The Quinnipiac poll did not release their election modeling either, but to get the results they show is extremely difficult under any likely voter model.

UPDATE:  Scott spokesman Joe Kildea’s offers this response: “Just as the Sink Campaign believes that the failed stimulus has actually created jobs, they are now denying the reality that they are behind.”

In case you missed Gov. Charlie Crist’s hourlong sitdown with The Palm Beach Post editorial board this morning, the Republican-turned-independent governor made it pretty clear his strategy over the next month will be to paint GOP nominee Marco Rubio as a “radical-right” fringer and woo Democratic voters by convincing them that Dem nominee Kendrick Meek can’t win.

Several recent polls show Rubio opening up a double-digit lead over Crist, with U.S. Rep. Meek a distant third.

“I can win,” Crist told the editorial board when asked about the difference between himself and Meek.

(more…)

See above post by George Bennett, Crist tells Dems ‘I can win’ against ‘radical right’ Rubio

Who is the real Charlie Crist?

The Palm Beach Post editorial board is grilling Gov. Crist in our newsroom now, and you can see the live streaming video here.

The editorial board is asking questions such as:

• Where do you really stand on the health care law?

• Where do stand on the stimulus?

• Which party would you caucus with?

With election day a month away, Crist comes for his candidate interview with The Post’s editorial board at a critical time for his campaign. (more…)

Republican congressional challenger Allen West released a new ad this morning saying Democratic U.S. Rep. Ron Klein’s policies have “failed South Florida,” but not mentioning any specifics. The ad also highlights West’s military service.

Klein released a new ad Wednesday attacking West again for liens and court judgments. Since going on the air Aug. 24, all Klein’s ads have slammed West without mentioning Klein’s own record.

Check out both ads:

Republican Rick Scott holds a 49-to-43 percent lead over Democrat Alex Sink in the governor’s race, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this morning.

Scott’s TV ads, which often link Sink to President Obama, are considered “annoying” by 54 percent of people who’ve seen them, the poll says. But with the poll also showing a 56 percent disapproval rating for the president in Florida, the ads appear to be having an effect. The Sept. 23-28 poll of 1,151 likely voters has a 2.9 percent margin of error.