newsminer.com

WASHINGTON — With little more than a week to go before the start of his trial in Washington for failing to disclose $250,000 in gifts, a new Republican poll shows Sen. Ted Stevens with a slight lead over Democratic challenger Mark Begich in the U.S. Senate race.

The survey by Outside polling firm Moore Information included questions about Stevens and Begich as well as Alaskan Independence Party candidate Bob Bird and Veterans Party nominee Ted Gianoutsos.

If the election were held today, 46 percent of those surveyed said they would vote for Stevens, compared to 44 percent for Begich. Bird and Gianoutsos together received just 3 percent of the vote.

The results are a significant improvement for Stevens over other recent polls, which showed him gaining ground but still behind Begich.

The poll was paid for by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the wing of the GOP tasked with getting Republicans elected to the Senate. The poll surveyed 500 voters between Sept. 2-3, for a margin of error of 4.4 percent.

A poll released Wednesday by Rasmussen Reports showed Stevens trailing Begich by 2 percentage points, 48 percent to 46 percent.

In a Rasmussen poll done at the end of July, just after Stevens’ indictment, he was 13 percentage points behind Begich. Prior to that, the race had been a toss-up, according to Rasmussen.

Stevens, who is seeking a seventh term in the Senate, appears to have made his biggest gains among unaffiliated voters.

In late July, 23 percent of unaffiliated voters supported the embattled incumbent, with the vast majority backing Begich. Now, 36 percent of unaffiliated voters support Stevens while his opponent’s numbers are unchanged.

Political pundits and pollsters attributed the gains to governor Palin’s pick as the Republican vice-presidential candidate.

Despite her campaign rhetoric about fighting corruption and the earmarking process Stevens has long championed, Palin has avoided directly criticizing the state’s senior senator. Palin has not endorsed Stevens’ bid for re-election, but she also has not called for him to step down.

Meanwhile, Stevens has endorsed the McCain-Palin ticket, despite a history of clashes with both candidates.

The McCain campaign has mostly ignored reporters’ requests for comment on Palin’s view of Stevens. A spokesman for the McCain campaign told the Peninsula Clarion that Palin has yet to endorse Stevens.

Any criticism of Stevens could help Democrats wrestle the seat away from Republican control.

While giving a nod to Palin, Stevens said his numbers are up because he was home most of August campaigning.

“I’m doing stronger than I was at the end of July,” he said Thursday. “The governor has helped, but we felt a bump well before that.”

Some 68 percent of Republicans back Stevens’ re-election bid, compared to 22 percent who said they support Begich. By comparison, 84 percent of Alaska Democrats support their party’s candidate, with 15 percent in favor of Stevens, according to Rasmussen.

Stevens said he feels confident about his chances in the upcoming election.

“I think we have a very good position,” he said.

Rasmussen gives Stevens a 40 percent chance of retaining his seat.

Stevens is viewed at least somewhat favorably by 52 percent of respondents in Alaska, including 26 percent who rate their opinion of him as very favorable. On the other hand, 29 percent have a very unfavorable view of Stevens. Both numbers have increased since July.

Begich is now viewed at least somewhat favorably by 61 percent, and 28 percent say they have a very favorable opinion of the Democrat, Rasmussen found. Only 16 percent regard him very unfavorably. Those numbers have stayed relatively constant for Begich since the previous poll.

Palin boosts

donations to McCain

According to a Rasmussen Reports poll released Thursday, 61 percent of Republicans say they are more likely to give money to McCain with Palin as his vice-presidential running mate.

Only 12 percent of Republicans said they are less likely to donate because of Palin, while 25 percent said she has no impact on their decision to contribute.

While vice-presidential picks traditionally are not considered a major factor in a campaign overall, Palin’s selection has changed the dynamic of the race.

The Obama campaign said it raised $10 million through the Internet within 24 hours after her speech at the Republican National Convention. The McCain camp said it also saw a substantial increase in online donations, though it did not release dollar figures.

Rasmussen found voters overall are evenly divided on whether they would be more or less likely to give money to the McCain campaign with Palin on the ticket. Some 30 percent said Palin has no impact on their decision to contribute.

Palin’s place on the ticket has helped McCain’s support among white women and independent voters, according to national polls taken in the days following the Republican National Convention. But Rasmussen found 36 percent of women said they were less likely to give money to McCain because of Palin, while 30 percent said they were more likely to contribute.

Palin is viewed favorably by 72 percent of voters in her home state, including 56 percent who hold a very favorable opinion of her, according to the telephone survey conducted by Rasmussen.

Nationally, Palin is viewed favorably by 56 percent of voters, including 41 percent with a very favorable opinion. Some 26 percent of voters nationwide have a very unfavorable view of Palin.

Among Republicans, 54 percent have a favorable opinion of Palin.

Nationally, Palin is viewed favorably by 62 percent of men and 51 percent of women.

In terms of ideology, 78 percent of voters regard Palin as at least somewhat conservative, including 49 percent who say she is very conservative. Only 11 percent describe her as moderate, the Rasmussen poll found.

A USA Today/Gallup poll found 53 percent of Republicans surveyed said they were more likely to vote for McCain with Palin as his running mate. A third of Democrats said Palin’s presence on the ticket made them less likely to choose McCain on Nov. 4.

The USA Today poll taken Sept. 5-7, included 959 registered voters with a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

A CNN/Opinion Research poll conducted last weekend, right after the Republican National Convention, found that 49 percent of respondents planned to vote Democrat, compared to 46 percent who said they would choose the Republican ballot.

McCain launches

new ad

The McCain campaign is airing a new television advertisement attacking Democratic opponent Barack Obama over his criticism of Palin.

The ad claims Obama disrespected Palin by calling her a liar.

There is some truth to the claim by the McCain campaign. The Obama campaign does have an ad challenging Palin’s comments about killing the $223 million earmark for the Ketchikan bridge to Gravina Island, which she previously supported. “Politicians lying about their records?” the ad asks.

But the McCain spot also includes a couple of claims that distort comments made by the Obama campaign. The ad says the Obama campaign “dismissed her as good-looking” and for just doing “what she was told.”

The claim that the Obama campaign dismissed Palin is a distortion of a remark made by Obama running mate Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., who jokingly compared himself to Palin by saying, “Well, there’s obvious differences. She’s good-looking.”

As for the second claim, it’s based on a comment by Obama strategist David Axelrod. “She tried to attack Obama by saying he had no significant legislative accomplishments — maybe that’s what she was told,” he said. Axelrod did not, however, say that Palin was simply parroting lines fed to her by the McCain camp.

The Obama campaign is trying to respond to Palin’s popularity, which has given McCain a slight edge in recent opinion polls.

On Friday, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe sent out a memo saying the McCain campaign has become “nothing but a series of smears, lies and cynical attempts to distract from the issues that matter to the American people.”

The memo signals an effort by the Obama camp to step up attacks on McCain and Palin in the final weeks before the election, especially on the issue of changing the atmosphere in the Capitol.

“We will take the fight to him,” Plouffe wrote.

The Obama campaign on Friday released two new ads attacking McCain’s claim that he will bring change to Washington.

Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee has launched an anti-Palin Web site, thenextcheney.com.

The site attacks claims of being a reformer that Palin has made since joining the McCain campaign.

The DNC did not respond to calls for comment for this story.

Kay Brown, a spokeswoman for the state Democratic party, said the state party has been active in supporting both Obama and Democrats in the statewide congressional races as well as candidates for the Legislature.

“We’re working as hard as we can to elect as many Democrats up and down the ticket as possible,” she said. “Certainly, there’s been a shift in the dynamic of the race since she joined the ticket, but we’re focused on talking about the issues Democratic candidates are campaigning on.”

Asked whether Palin’s presence on the ballot would hurt Alaska Democrats, Brown said she didn’t know.

“Alaskans are independent voters,” she said. “I think people will make individual choices about each candidate.”

Pelosi disses Palin

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., recognized Palin for being the first woman on a Republican presidential ticket, but said she disagrees with her politics.

“I congratulate her on her historic candidacy but completely opposed her policies,” Pelosi told reporters on Tuesday.

Pelosi reiterated her support for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee for president.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., pointed out that Geraldine Ferraro actually deserved credit for breaking the glass ceiling with her 1984 Democratic vice-presidential bid.

Gravel defends Palin

Former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel defended Palin this week in a letter published by the online political site CounterPunch.org.

Palin’s staunch independence and integrity is part of her wide popularity with the American public, he said.

“Sarah Palin has a sense of personal outrage over political corruption that plays extremely well with the public, something the others have lost long ago,” Gravel wrote.

“She has demonstrated the personal courage to publicly confront and overcome Republican Party corruption and has successfully taken on the oil industry over taxation and oil leasing issues. She has publicly stood up to Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young on the ‘bridge to nowhere’ and the policy of federal earmarks arguing for a public transparency process.

“Sarah has literally come to the national scene without owing anything to any party or corporate interest — not even McCain — he needs her more than she needs him. Imagine a person a heart beat away not owned by the military-industrial complex, Wall Street, corporate America or AIPAC.

“Wow! Can this last? Probably not. But she does have an uncanny sense of political direction and the ability to capitalize on change like putting the public interest above Republican Party interests.”

Gravel, a Democrat-turned Libertarian, closed the letter with some advice.

“Sarah, if you refuse to sell out — you don’t need to — you have a glorious future ahead of you with your gift of courage, a virtue that permits you to implement all other virtues. Whether you can or will depends on your capacity to constantly re-exam your ideologies and grow politically and intellectually.”

Democrats and even some Republicans have criticized Palin’s lack of experience, especially with foreign policy and national security issues, to be vice president, but Gravel, in a recent radio interview, said he considers her lack of time on the national level a positive.

“One of her assets is that she has got such a thin resume in politics,” he said. “The longer people stay in politics, the more likelihood they have of getting corrupted by the corruption in government process.”

In the same radio interview, Gravel said McCain’s choice of Palin is aimed at satisfying the Republican Party’s conservative base.

“He’s entitled to have somebody on his ticket that he respects,” Gravel said. “He respects the fact that she has the courage to stand up to Republican corruption … of Ted Stevens and Don Young and a whole host of Republicans in the state Legislature.”

“She’s not my cup of tea, but I have the objective ability to look at it and take it for what it is,” he added.

Despite his praise for Palin, Gravel has said he doesn’t plan to vote for either McCain or Obama in the presidential election.