Mike Fitzpatrick, erstwhile congressman, has released a new internal poll showing him leading incumbent Democrat Patrick Murphy 50-40 percent, a ten point lead with just seven days until Election Day. Fitzpatrick has a 53-31 percent advantage over Murphy among Independents, according to the poll, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies.

The story accompanying the release of this poll — and perhaps overshadowing it — is the arrival of “Chicago-style politics” in southeastern Pennsylvania’s Bucks County.

As Jim Geraghty noted at The Campaign Spot last week, local Democrats have come under fire for misleading and threatening voters via a fictituous “Pennsylvania Voter Assistance Office.”

The Fitzpatrick campaign sent out an e-mail that reads in part:

“Patrick Murphy is getting desperate and now employing Chicago style tactics to pursue his win at all costs strategy,” said Kyle Whatley, Mike Fitzpatrick’s Campaign Manger. “We know that Congressman Murphy has raised half of his money outside of Pennsylvania, and as the Courier-Times reported today, Patrick Murphy has also been hiding behind millions of dollars from outside shadowy groups that are attacking Mike Fitzpatrick.”
“We all know that Chicago is Patrick Murphy’s kind of town. He was the first Pennsylvania politician to endorse Barack Obama over Senator Clinton, Obama’s Chicago speechwriter ghostwrote for Murphy’s sweetheart book deal, and Murphy’s Chief of Staff is moving to Chicago to run Rahm Emanuel’s race for mayor. But now he’s bringing Chicago-style politics to Bucks County,” said Whatley. [emphasis added]

It will be telling to see how Murphy fares as the votes are counted next Tuesday. He’s one of the few politicians to aggressively maintain allegiance with the Obama-Pelosi agenda, and is, indeed, one of its chief supporters.

In terms of financial support among the two men, Fitzpatrick draws most of his money, roughly 85 percent, from in-state donors, while Murphy draws only 57 percent of his funding from inside the commonwealth. Murphy has raised $129,409 in Illinois, second only to New York ($161,061) in terms of out-of-state fundraising.

The NRCC views this as a bellwether race, and Democrats have a vested interest in Murphy, whom they view as a rising star in the party. They awarded him a coveted seat on the Appropriations Committee earlier this year.