The New York Times this morning looks at the dozen-or-so Congressional rematches across the country… and lo, there’s Ben Chandler and Garland H. Barr IV:
The pattern in New York can be seen elsewhere in the country. In the Sixth District in Kentucky, Andy Barr, a Republican, is again challenging Representative Ben Chandler, a four-term Democrat who defeated him by 647 votes in 2010.
But the rematch promises to be far different from the last race, when the two men largely battled below the national radar. This time, Republican and Democratic leaders in Washington have made the race a priority and are expected to pour huge amounts of money into it.
“This race is a rematch of the third-closest Congressional race in the country in 2010,” Mr. Barr, a lawyer, said. “We can finish the job this time.”
Okay, sure.
Except…
The Barr campaign just solicited, received and released an internal poll which spends most of its time saying how weak Ben Chandler is and how everything is stacked against him… except for the fact that Barr’s own commissioned poll found explicitly that he is trailing Ben Chandler by 7 points.
Let’s repeat that: The Barr campaign commissioned poll tries hard to paint a positive picture by downplaying its primary finding which is that Garland Hale Barr the Fourth trails Ben Chandler by 7 points.
Look:
In a rematch of the third-closest Congressional race in the country in 2010, being down 7 points isn’t exactly great news… especially when its coming from a poll your own campaign paid for.
[via DailyKos, you can see the campaign's full pdf here]
Also fun… recently came across a blog which is creating caricatures of every single member of Congress… it’s good fun and heeeeeeeere’s Ben:
