Ken Blackwell — former Ohio secretary of state and state treasurer, former gubernatorial candidate, NRO contributor, and NR cruiser — is contemplating a run for Senate in 2012, taking on Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown.
Supporters of Blackwell have commissioned a poll and like what they see. First, in a primary matchup against newly elected state treasurer Josh Mandel and Rep. Pat Tiberi:
Q: If the 2012 Republican U.S. Senate primary was held today, and the only candidates running were Ken Blackwell, Josh Mandel, and Pat Tiberi, for whom would you vote?
Blackwell 34.1%
Mandel 17.3%
Tiberi 16.3%
Undecided 32.1%
Then in the head-to-head against Brown:
If the election for U.S. Senate was held today, and the only candidates running were Ken Blackwell and Sherrod Brown, for whom would you vote?
Blackwell 32.2%
Brown 45.0%
Undecided 22.8%
Before you shriek in horror, Blackwell fans note that their man hasn’t been in the public eye in Ohio much since his 2006 gubernatorial bid. They put much more importance on Brown being below 50.
In this poll, Pat Tibeiri and Josh Mandel have steeper hills to climb. Tiberi trails, 20.8 percent to 46 percent, while Mandel trails, 21.4 percent to 44 percent.
The poll consists of a sample of 500 registered voters, with a margin of error of +/-4.4 percent. The sample is 52.4 percent women, 47.6 percent men, and 42.6 percent Democrat, 39.2 percent Republican, 18.2 percent Independent.
The pollsters also decided to ask about the Republican presidential primary. Huckabee led with 24.5 percent; Gingrich was in second with 21.9 percent; Palin was in third with 16.3 percent; Romney fourth with 13.7 percent. Trailing behind were Bachmann with 5.61 percent, Pawlenty with 3.57 percent, Santorum with just over 2 percent, Huntsman and Barbour with roughly 1.5 percent each. A bit over 9 percent were undecided.