Source: Sen. Ritchie Trailing Both Primary Opponents

… KID ROCK UNCONCERNED

FITSNews – April 30, 2008 – You may be wondering what a picture of Kid Rock is doing on a post about S.C. Sen. Jim Ritchie. Well, it turns out Kid’s real name is Robert James Ritchie, which we thought was funny. Also funny is the fact that Sic Willie freaks out every time Kid Rock’s “Cowboy” song comes on the radio - a phobia that apparently stems from an unfortunate incident involving one of his favorite hats and an all-nude strip club in Santee, S.C.

Anyway, that’s neither here nor there … what’s “here,” however, is new polling information showing that Senator James H. Ritchie is in serious trouble …

“If the primary were held today, Jim Ritchie wouldn’t make the runoff,” said a source familiar with the poll, which was reportedly conducted last week. “The immigration issue is eating him alive. People don’t understand the process of the (S.C.) Senate, they’re expecting results.”

According to our source, Ritchie trails both Republican challengers Max Hyde and Shane Martin in the race, with “name recognition, favorability and electability all in the low thirties.”

Ritchie backers dispute the validity of the poll, citing a survey conducted by the S.C. Republican Senate Caucus that they say shows Ritchie at 40%, Martin at 24% and Hyde at 15%.

“He’s got a sixty-percent favorability rating,” one Ritchie supporter told us, adding that any polling that shows otherwise is “bogus.”

A representative of the S.C. Republican Senate Caucus confirmed to FITSNews that a poll was conducted last Thursday in Ritchie’s race by Public Opinion Strategies, but the representative declined to discuss its results.

One Ritchie supporter told FITSNews that the Senator was also poised “to be the hero” on the stalled immigration reform bill currently before the S.C. General Assembly.