Franken v. Coleman: Bloggers weigh in on latest poll

As the election draws closer, all eyes are on the Minnesota senate race. And as pollers and pundits release their latest work, no one has more to say than Minnesota’s political bloggers, each finding a way to proclaim victory for his or her own candidate.

Many liberal bloggers are rejoicing in what they see as a turning point for the Al Franken campaign. Jeff Rosenberg writes, "Franken has finally turned around a campaign that had some trouble in the beginning, with plenty of time remaining for the sprint to the finish." MNPublius blogger Aaron Landry notes that since the last poll, sitting senator Norm Coleman has had his lead cut nearly in half: "I guess Minnesotans saw right through the right-wing lies about Franken’s stance on women’s issues and they understand the difference between comedy and what Franken represents as a Senate candidate."

The conservatives see Franken’s possible six-point gain as insignificant, pointing instead to all of the ground he still has to cover. Gary Gross, posting on the conservative group blog "Look True North," states, "I’ve been tracking these polls for months. Franken has difficulty reaching the mid forties. In fact, he’s occasionally had difficulty reaching the forties. It’s difficult to take a challenger seriously if they can’t break the forty percent mark."  Republican political consultant and blogger Michael Brodkorb’s headline focuses on Franken’s lower showing of support among Minnesota’s Democrats in comparison to Coleman’s support among his fellow Republicans.   Inside the post, he gives a detailed analysis of Franken’s possible weakness with independents.  "The fact that Coleman has nearly a 20-point edge over Franken with independents is just devastating," Brodkorb writes.

In last month’s Survey USA/KSTP Poll, Ventura had 26% of the vote – Franken had 27%. This new poll shows Franken at 39% of the vote, while there is 11% for “other” (basically, the stand-in for the Ventura Candidate). The 12 points that Franken picked up were likely ticked-off Democrats that didn’t want to support him in the first place.

This means that Ventura was stealing significant votes from Franken and that even with those Democrats now returning to the DFL fold, Franken STILL can’t get 75% of the vote of the Minnesota Democrats.

Independents find it encouraging, as well. As Mike Grimes states on his blog, "A KSTP Survey poll released Sunday night shows 1 in 9 Minnesotan’s have already decided neither Norm Coleman or Al Franken are worthy of their vote… At 11%… hope exists, and when Colemans [sic] lead becomes 49-35-13 both Coleman and Franken supporters will feel it is safe to support Dean Barkley, Jack Uldrich, or Stephen Williams, and it simply becomes a matter of knocking Coleman under 35%."