Corker, Ford Say Polls Show Each Ahead

Thursday, November 02, 2006

The second independent poll released this week shows former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker leading in the U.S. Senate race with 53% of the vote compared to 43% for Democrat Harold Ford Jr., the Corker campaign touted.

However, the Ford campaign said another poll showed the West Tennessee congressman in the lead.

The Reuters/Zogby poll was taken Oct. 24-30 and has a 4 point margin of error.

In early October, the same poll showed that the race was tied.

Earlier in the week an independent CNN poll showed Corker leading by 8 points, with Corker at 52% and Ford at 44%.

Corker spokesman Todd Womack said, “On the final day of Early Voting, we are very pleased that the second public poll released this week shows us leading in this race with more than 50% of the vote.

“While the trends are encouraging, there is still much work to do and our great volunteers and supporters across the state are focused on the final push to get voters to the polls and ensure that Bob Corker is elected as Tennessee’s next United States senator.”

Ford had a lead of 46-40, according to a new poll released today by Hamilton Beattie & Staff for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Ford campaigns said.

Ford officials stated, "Hamilton Beattie's daily tracking polling shows that Bob Corker’s support has dropped six points in just three days, allowing Ford to assume a lead outside the poll's margin of error. Hamilton Beattie conducted the survey among 600 likely voters statewide from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1. The poll's margin of error is 4%.

"Ford campaign fundraising is surging, as well, as donors contributed approximately $1 million today in response to news that Bob Corker had dumped $2 million of his own money yesterday into his struggling campaign.

"The money is coming from the right people in the right ways. Nurses for Ford, a group of nurses from around the state supporting Ford's call for affordable healthcare for all, challenged their members today to donate. They raised $775 in just one hour.

"The new poll and the fundraising success track the early voting turnout, with 756,000 Tennesseans early voting through Wednesday, Nov. 1, in what is shaping up to be a record mid-term election turnout for change."

Ford campaign senior advisor Michael Powell said, "There's a wave of change sweeping across Tennessee. Harold Ford is surging in the polls, in fundraising, in early voting, and is closing this campaign the way Tennesseans expect--by offering a positive vision of hope and change for the future.

“As for Mr. Corker, voters can spot a desperate campaign when they see one. Bob Corker is ending his campaign putting $2 million of his own money behind five false attack ads.

"Bob Corker wrote a check yesterday, and the people of Tennessee today responded loud and clear: Our votes are not for sale."



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