By FITSNews || Sources tell FITS that the Democratic gubernatorial race in South Carolina is neck-and-neck, with State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex and State Senator Vincent Sheheen battling it out for the top spot.
Rex has struggled to raise money (and contain his campaign’s spending) but unlike Sheheen he is known to most voters given the fact that he occupies a statewide office. Sheheen is largely unknown, but raised a ton of money and is now bombarding the state with television ads.
Meanwhile, we’re also told that Sen. Robert Ford – who has built his long shot campaign around bringing video poker back to the Palmetto State – is earning just enough support to force a runoff between Rex and Sheheen.
Obviously, we’ll see fresh polling data on the Democratic race from Rasmussen Reports on Friday, one day after the pollsters released their latest data on the Republican gubernatorial race.
By Bobby May 20, 2010 at 11:25 am
Isn’t that funny. Will Folks’ “front runner” Vincent Sheheen isn’t handily beating Dr. Rex like everyone has said he would. Of course, we won’t see any comment from FITS that it was wrong on it’s analysis of this race.
By fitsnews May 20, 2010 at 12:05 pm
Bobby,
Sure we probably over-optimistically assessed Sheheen’s position in some of our earlier coverage.
This polling, assuming it is what we’re told it will be, honestly surprised us.
Is that the sort of thing you were hoping to hear?
-FITS
P.S. – To our credit, we’ve said all along that Sheheen is a bumpkin, Rex is a disaster and Ford … well, he’s just Ford.
By York County Native May 20, 2010 at 12:10 pm
I wouldn’t put a whole lot of stock into whatever poll numbers we see tomorrow. Sheheen’s only been on TV for a week. Rex hasn’t been on at all and won’t be on until June 1. I think Dem voters will have an entirely different picture of the race at that time. I’ll honestly be shocked if a runoff is necessary on the Dem side.
By Loves it May 20, 2010 at 12:34 pm
I just love the photo- can I use that??
By vicupstate May 20, 2010 at 1:11 pm
Rasmussen is not a reputible pollster. It is the Fox News of pollsters. It’s entire purpose is to determine the narrative, rather than reflect reality.
By The Colonel May 20, 2010 at 1:37 pm
Fits, Ford is more of an Edsel. I think you were probably right. Rex is a disaster and Sheheen has been saving his money thinking he’d be the clear leader by now. My wife tells me she’s already tired of Sheheen ads and she’d never heard of him two weeks ago (a love of politics is not something we share)
By Calhoun Fawls May 21, 2010 at 7:41 am
I guess the eternal poll that McMaster has that shows Haley in the lead on the GOP side is as bad as Rasmussen?
By Calhoun Fawls May 21, 2010 at 7:43 am
Also, Democrats have the knack of nominating the absolute wrong guy for office. They cannot help themselves. So few people vote in their primary and those who do think Obama is too conservative. So, they nominate people like Tommy Moore.
By JAF May 21, 2010 at 10:16 am
I live in a majority black county and I received an advertisement from Ford seeking my support. I considered th material racist and would never vote for him. Of course with the direction of the Democrat Party I will never vote for a Democrat on a statewide or national level again. In this area there are no Republicans on the ballot locally but some of our representatives are good Democrats because they could not get elected as a Republican. I am thinking of not voting any longer in any local elections because I resent having to vote for a Democrat in name. By the way my family was always Democrat.