The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee released new polls in several districts this morning, including WA-08, where their survey of 400 voters shows Darcy Burner leading Dave Reichert by a 49% to 44% margin.
“Darcy Burner’s campaign for change is resonating with families who have had enough of Congressman Dave Reichert’s support for George Bush’s failed economic policies,” said Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman Yoni Cohen. “Reichert was a good sheriff but is ineffective in Congress, rubber stamping Bush’s war in Iraq and Bush’s effort to privatize Social Security and risk seniors’ retirement benefits in the stock market. Burner is running to change Washington and provide tax relief to Washington State’s middle class families.”
Well, I don’t know how good a sheriff Reichert really was (he did not, as legend tells it, catch the Green River Killer), but he certainly has been an ineffective congressman, and his continued support for privatizing Social Security, even in the wake of the current financil crisis, should disqualify him from office on its own. (Of course Reichert claims that he doesn’t support “privatization,” he merely supports individual accounts that can be invested in the market. But then, perhaps he really is dumb enough to believe the party line that those two schemes aren’t essentially the same thing?)
Yes, this is a DCCC poll, and they tend to only release the good ones, but they’re not in the business of deceiving themselves, so partisans on either side should not make the mistake of dismissing it out of hand. And while it is the first poll I’ve seen to show Darcy with an “initial head-to-head lead,” I’ve seen the internals on previous polls that showed Darcy leading after issues were pushed to respondents… something Darcy has been doing in recent weeks with her advertising.
Either way, confirmation (or not) is coming. I know of at least two more polls currently in the field, and both Survey USA and Research 2000 should have new polls dropping within the next week and a half. I’m crossing my fingers.