GOP touts polling showing Dent with wide lead in 15th District

The GOP is crowing about new internal polling the party says shows Lehigh Valley Congressman Charlie Dent with a wide lead over his Democratic challenger John Callahan early in the race for Pennsylvania’s 15th District.

The new poll, completed for the Dent campaign by the Alexandria, Va.-based Tarrance Group on January 19-20, shows Dent with a sizable 26 point lead among likely voters. The poll, of 300 likely registered voters carries a fairly hefty 5.8 percent margin of error.

Official grain of salt notice: The campaign isn’t releasing the list of questions, or all the findings, just the ones it wants people to know about.

Here’s the breakdown: Dent 53, Callahan 27 and a stunningly high 8 percent for Nazareth independent Jake Towne, a conservative/libertarian sort of candidate to Dent’s right who has been working his you-know-what off. About 12 percent of voters are undecided.

The GOP isn’t giving out all the details of the internal poll so its’ hard to say how complete a picture it provides. But the numbers it is shopping, contained in a highlights memo, look pretty good for Dent. Here’s a sampling: 90 percent of Republicans and one out of four Democrats would vote for Dent. Dent also enjoys a 30 percent lead among independents and is known by 90 percent in the district.

The Democrats are touting their national lead in campaign cash. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee says it raised $3.8 million in December alone, and is way ahead of the Republicans. The Callahan campaign says it has its own polling, and it’s pleased with its chances.
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