Clinton Poll and Fund-Raising Numbers Look Strong in Senate Race
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ALBANY — Senator Clinton’s littleknown Republican challenger, John Spencer, got bad news on the numbers front yesterday — a poll showed her maintaining an almost 2-1 lead and his campaign reported less than $475,000 on hand for a final pre-Election Day push.
On Friday, the Clinton campaign said it still had almost $15.8 million on hand.
The New York election is one many see as a prelude to a 2008 run for the White House by the former first lady. National polls show her leading the field among potential Democratic presidential contenders and any money she has left over from her Senate race can be converted to a presidential campaign.
The latest New York poll, from Siena College’s Research Institute, had Mrs. Clinton leading Mr. Spencer 59% to 32 %. A September poll from the Albanyarea institute had Mrs. Clinton leading 62% to 33%.
“Hillary is coasting to a re-election victory against an opponent who continues to be unknown to more than twothirds of likely voters,” said Siena poll spokesman Steven Greenberg.”With little money, little name recognition, and only three weeks to go, Spencer is facing a loss in every region of the state.”
“Poll numbers and cash-on-hand figures tell the same story: New Yorkers are giving Senator Clinton a real thumbs up for her work over the last six years,” Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson said yesterday.
With little to worry about in her reelection effort, Mrs. Clinton has hit the national campaign trail heavily in recent weeks to help other Democratic candidates as the party tries to win back control of both houses of Congress.
Thus far, Mr. Spencer has been able to raise only $4.7 million while Mrs. Clinton has raised almost $47 million.
The Spencer camp is hoping that two scheduled debates may give the GOP challenger a bit of a boost.
The debates, however, are scheduled for this coming Friday evening and Sunday morning, not times that would normally translate into big television audiences.
Siena’s telephone poll of 620 likely New York voters was conducted October 9-12 and has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
