I like the gumption of this tactic:
Bobby Schilling, Republican candidate for Congress in the IL-17 District, challenged Rep. Phil Hare to release the results of two polls, which his campaign paid for in the first quarter of this year, within the next 48 hours. According to the FEC, Friends of Phil Hare paid $30,000 on two polls conducted on February 12 and 19 of 2010. Schilling said that Rep. Hare should release the results of the poll, especially in regard to healthcare, so that the citizens of the 17th can know whether or not he voted in line with the will of his constituents.
“Rep. Hare spent $30,000 of his constituents’ donations on two polls in early February, and I challenge him to release the results, good or bad, within the next 48 hours,” said Schilling. “I am confident the poll numbers will show that Hare is politically weak due to his support of the Obama, Pelosi liberal agenda that is out-of-step with the hardworking taxpayers of Illinois.”
Sure, theoretically Hare could release polling numbers showing him up comfortably, but that would raise the question of why they refused to release a February poll that showed good news. No, those polls must have shown something at least modestly ominous for Team Hare to keep them under their hats like this.
Then again, maybe bad polling is one of those things that Phil Hare doesn’t care about. You know, like the Constitution:
UPDATE: Boy, this must be contagious. A lot of House Democrats paid for polls and then didn’t release the results: Debbie Halvorson of Illinois, Harry Teague of New Mexico, David Obey of Wisconsin, Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota, Joe Donnelly of Indiana . . .