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Push Polling in the 51st?

Friday, September 18, 2009

It looks like we may have a "push poller" in the 51st House of Delegates district. Guess which party's candidate is doing it?
The House of Delegates’ 51st District race got hot this week over a poll by GOP challenger Rich Anderson.

Anderson faces Del. Paul F. Nichols, a Lake Ridge Democrat. The Anderson campaign conducted a poll last week of 300 registered voters in the district.

The idea was to find out what matters to voters, said Anderson campaign manager Reece Collins, and information such as, “What is it that they like about Rich Anderson? What is it that they don’t like about Paul Nichols?”

Nichols’ campaign staff, however, heard from some of their supporters who said that the poll suggested the incumbent was soft on sex offenders.
If asking in a supposed "poll" whether or not your opponent "voted to allow convicted felons and pornographers to work on school property" isn't a classic of the "push poll" genre, I don't know what is. Where did Rich Anderson (photo on the left, above) learn his campaign tactics from, Karl Rove? Wherever he came up with this idea, it's unacceptable.

Fortunately, Paul Nichols is fighting back, calling out Rich Anderson for his slimeball campaign tactics, and demanding an apology to the "people of the 51st District." On the last point, I'm certainly not holding my breath. How about you?