Even if this poll is off a bit, it tells us that Patty Murray is probably more vulnerable this year than she has been in years:
SurveyUSA polled 850 Washington state residents, then narrowed it down to 517 who are likely to vote in November. They were asked who they would vote for in a matchup between Murray and any one of these six candidates: Dino Rossi, State Sen. Don Benton; former NFL player Clint Didier; businessman Chris Widener; businessman Paul Akers; or Dr. Art Coday.
Fifty-two percent say they would vote for Rossi over Murray while 42 percent said they would choose Murray. Seven percent were undecided.
However, both Dino Rossi and the Murray camp agree that these numbers don’t seem right. Rossi says the internal and public polling shows Murray has the advantage.
Even if this recent poll is an outlier, Rossi would presumably give Murray her toughest competition, and force the DSCC to use up funds there instead of in places like Nevada, Pennsylvania, California, Florida, New Hampshire, Ohio, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Colorado…
Patty Murray, of course, is the senator who declared not long after 9/11, that Osama bin Laden has “been out in these countries for decades, building schools, building roads, building infrastructure, building day-care facilities, building health-care facilities, and the people are extremely grateful. He’s made their lives better. We have not done that.”