For Immediate Release
August 31, 2010
Contact: Kory Kozloski
(608) 260-2403
Large Media Buy Followed by Push Poll
MADISON – State Senate Democratic Committee Executive Director Kory Kozloski today called into question recent efforts by the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate (CERS) as an obvious and desperate attempt to manufacture more favorable (and inaccurate) poll numbers for their flagging campaigns.
Last week CERS purchased over $6,000 of ad time on Eau Claire Radio Stations – running a series of misleading attack ads against Senators Pat Kreitlow and Kathleen Vinehout for the last 7 days. While many questioned the strategy of such a short term buy, an explanation emerged over the weekend as voters across the district received poll calls from Republican polling firms.
“Obviously the GOP and their slate of retread Senate Candidates cannot stand on their own merits,” said Kozloski. “So CERS and the GOP is trying to manipulate the poll numbers with short lived media buys and push polls.”
Kozloski added several Eau Claire residents had called to complain about the highly negative nature of the GOP polls, indicating that the Republicans may be using one-sided and misleading push polls to manufacture numbers more to their liking.
This recent attempt to use faulty poll numbers to prop up struggling candidates came only one week after the GOP released a much-ridiculed polling memo on Senator Russ Decker, using questionable logic to claim that he was in “trouble.” The GOP refused to release any direct comparison or head-to-head numbers on the race, proving just how flimsy their argument was.
While the SSDC does not release internal polling numbers, Kozloski did indicate that all 5 targeted Senate Democratic incumbents (Sens. Sullivan, Vinehout, Kreitlow, Lehman, and Decker) enjoyed head-to-head leads over their opponents. He noted, in particular, that the GOP’s belief that the Leah Vukmir’s race against Jim Sullivan race was a “slam dunk” was either wishful thinking, or an outright fabrication on their part.
“The GOP is seeing the same numbers that we are, and they are getting desperate,” concluded Kozloski. “I can’t wait to see what sort of mental gymnastics their next polling memo will require.”
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Paid for by the State Senate Democratic Committee, Jon Erpenbach, Treasurer.
