English campaign disputes poll

U.S. Rep. Phil EnglishThe re-election campaign for U.S. Rep. Phil English (R-Erie) is questioning the merits of a poll showing the incumbent down 4 percentage points to Democratic opponent Kathy Dahlkemper.
 
The results of an automated poll conducted over the weekend, as was done in this case by SurveyUSA, shouldn't be trusted, said Adam Beebe, English's campaign manager.

"More importantly, this was a very unstable weekend to do any kind of polling," he said, citing the country's financial crisis. "I would question the accuracy of the polling."

Beebe said the campaign doesn't comment on its internal polling but emphasized its confident English will win.

"We feel that Phil is going to be in a position at the end of the election where he will be victorious," Beebe said.

The campaign manager said the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has had to prop up Dahlkemper's campaign because of the Lake Erie Arboretum director's lackluster fundraising, which is appropriate he said, because she receives all of her talking points the House Democrats' campaign arm. English's campaign will try to drive home that point during the election's final days.

The country's financial crisis is clearly the country's No. 1 issue at this point, and English was one of 10 Pennsylvania representatives in Congress to vote against Monday's $700 billion bailout bill, which was wildly unpopular with most voters

The congressman won't vote for a bill that "passes the buck to taxpayers" while bailout out Wall Street "fat cats," Beebe said.

One consequence of the financial crisis is Thursday's scheduled debate between the two candidates, which was to be their first. The first debate will now be a week from Wednesday, on Oct. 8.

EARLIER on PolitickerPA.com:

• New poll shows Dahlkemper up 4 over English