PA AG: Polls and Money

The now 2-way contest for the Pennsylvania Democratic party's AG nomination is going to be a bruising, tough affair for Democrats Kathleen Kane and Patrick Murphy.  And by bruising and tough, I mean that both Kane and Murphy both have real campaign dollars with which to bludgeon one another over issues like - who took the bar, who let which killer go free, who's soft on sexual predators, and who really, really, really hates Wall Street (and Fox News!) the most. The AP reports that both candidates have already blasted past the $1 million raised mark:

Campaign finance reports filed Tuesday show that Kane tapped her family's wealth to raise $2.3 million last year. A nearly $1.8 million loan from her husband was the largest chunk of her fundraising and her campaign ended the year with $2 million.

Murphy, a Bucks County resident, ended the year with about $1 million on hand out of the $1.4 million that he raised.

Now - of course the Murphy campaign will make a point to remind reporters (who will generate a free headline or two) that the Kane campaign's financial support is made up largely of...1 millionaire - Chris Kane of Kane is Able Trucking and Logistics. Nothing compared to the every day middle class supporters of the Murphy campaign - I'm conjecturing here, remember.

Expect that financial drama to play out in the days ahead.  

On the heels of the Kane campaign's dramatic announcement of $2 million on hand, the campaign just released an internal poll that shows Murphy leading Kane in the initial ballot (40-24), Kane and Murphy tied among voters who know both (45-45), and lastly (and most importantly) Kane above 50% and Murphy wallowing in the mid 30%s after what I'm sure was a balanced and realistic "informed" ballot (35-51).  That's an interesting poll, but one might think the numbers - being that they came from a pollster paid by the Kane campaign - are a bit skewed.  You're probably asking yourself - why did Kane release such a sensitive internal poll?  

That answer is simple - Murphy did it first.  

On January 12th the Murphy campaign, trotted out their own internal numbers - likely in response to the anticipated $2 million day the Kane campaign was going to have, and possibly in response to a hit the campaign was taking on Mr. Murphy's failure to take the Pennsylvania Bar exam.  

The Murphy campaign poll showed Patrick Murphy, of all people, leading the then 3-way for the Democratic nomination.  He had at double digit lead over Kathleen Kane (36-15).  The poll even had Murphy leading in Kathleen Kane's backyard by double digits (31-21).  

Dueling internal polls, dueling millions, one can only surmise that there's not going to be a kitchen sink left in either campaign by the time this primary fight is over.