Here at Politics Now, we're not big on believing everything campaigns say, especially about their internal polls -- which candidates tend to release only when the findings make them look good.
But rarely does a campaign release an internal poll as shocking as that released late Thursday by Jack Davis, the Tea Party candidate in New York's 26th District.
The poll shows Democrat Kathleen C. Hochul vaulting to a huge lead in the race in the GOP-dominated district, with 44 percent.
Davis follows at 27 percent -- with Assemblywoman Jane L. Corwin, the endorsed Republican candidate, at a paltry 17 percent.
Davis campaign manager Curtis Ellis said the poll was an automated one that surveyed 4,602 "frequent" voters in the district. He did not respond immediately to a request for the pollster's name or the complete details of the poll.
The Davis campaign is trying to use the poll to start a new narrative in the race -- and to draw votes away from Corwin.
“It’s clear that if conservatives, Republicans and Tea Party patriots want to keep Kathy Hochul, a Nancy Pelosi Democrat, from representing this district, they must vote for Jack Davis,” Ellis said.
That new Davis narrative will last about a day if a Siena College poll, due to be released Saturday, shows Corwin in a much stronger position.
But if the Siena poll's results echo that of the Davis poll, well, then it's possible conservatives will rethink their support of Corwin -- and that this amazing 26th District race will turn more topsy-turvy than ever before.
-- Jerry Zremski
