Todd Elkins, an Independence minister who is active in Missouri politics through a group known as Missouri Impact, is also a longtime blogger on public policy. He points out on toddelkins.net an interesting tidbit regarding disgraced former Kansas congressional candidate Adam Taff, who pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud while misusing campaign funds to obtain a home loan.
Elkins notes that Republican news compiler John Combest recently posted polling data that showed Rep. Todd Akin of St. Louis County leads his challenger, state Rep. Sherman Parker, by 77% to 3%. (Parker's campaign says the poll was skewed.) But the interesting part was the list of clients touted by the polling firm, American Viewpoint.
The list includes Taff along with other prominent Republicans, including Sen. Jim Talent of Missouri; Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana; Actor-turned-Senator-turned-TV Prosecutor Fred Thompson of Tennessee; Gov. Matt Blunt and his father, U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt; U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri; and Missouri Treasurer Sarah Steelman.
Posted by Kit Wagar
The poll John Combest cites about Parker is bogus. The "interesting" thing Kit is this: Why isn't Todd Akin listed as one of American Viewpoint's client's? You would think that a poll that has you leading by such a wide margin would be releasd by the Akin campaign to the media, not by the polling firm to a "news compiler". The source code on the word document supposedly released by American Viewpoint on Compost's site says "CT 5 Benchmark, Nancy Johnson, CT5, 2002". Hmmmmm????? Nancy Johnson, a Congresswoman from Connecticut was an American Viewpoint client in 2002. This is the real story that needs investigating.
Posted by: Matt Hawkins | July 04, 2006 at 07:35 AM
There aren't 7/4 posts up yet, so tagging here my thoughts on the Fourth of July and Freedom.
http://noblesseoblige.org/wordpress/?p=214
Posted by: Thanos | July 04, 2006 at 08:15 AM
Why is it important that all these pols use the same pollster?
Posted by: Thomas | July 04, 2006 at 09:00 AM
More importantly, why am I supposed to care they all use the same pollster? Maybe they all drive Ford's too.......what a coincidence.
Posted by: Thomas | July 04, 2006 at 09:02 AM
The reason it matters that all these campaigns use the same pollster is because, aside from ad buys, polling is one of the most expensive parts of any campaign. It costs often hundreds of thousands of dollars to do polls throughout an entire cycle. American Viewpoint is one of the best in the business, which is why so many top-flight campaign use them. What this poll shows conclusively, and what many have known for some time, is that Sherman Parker has no chance whatsoever of beating Todd Akin in the primary. No chance.
Posted by: modem | July 04, 2006 at 09:16 AM