Fischer's pollster says numbers show high upside

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Greg Fischer released an internal poll memo that shows him currently trailing rival Bruce Lunsford but jumping ahead once bio information was read to respondents.

The poll of 609 likely Democratic primary voters called between Feb. 28 and March 2 showed 37 percent supporting Lunsford and 22 percent for Fischer. Once a biographical paragraph was read to respondents, Fischer got 44 percent compared to Lunsford's 39 percent.

The memo prepared by Fischer's pollster Jefrey Pollock of Global Strategy Group says "Lunsford's lead is based entirely on name identification." (The polling memo includes both paragraphs read about the candidates).

"It's a wide open race," Pollock told reporters in a conference call Wednesday.

Lunsford and Fischer, both wealthy Louisville businessmen, are considered the two most active candidates vying in a seven-person field for the Democratic nomination to face Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell in the fall. Fischer is making his first run for public office. Lunsford ran for governor in 2003 and 2007.

Also, those who said they didn't support Lunsford were asked whether they would consider voting for Lunsford or "definitely not" consider voting for him. Of those, 25 percent said they would definitely not support Lunsford.

Pollock said that indicated Lunsford may have a ceiling of support much like he displayed in last year's crowded primary for governor. Lunsford struggled to break out of the mid-30-percent range in polls and finished the Democratic primary second with 21.4 percent.

"It clearly shows that in a positive environment when he goes and talks about his message ... it doesn't really move the needle," Pollock said.

Lunsford's newly-hired campaign manager Bradley Katz, responded with a statement saying Lunsford  "is going to run a clean campaign focused on the issues that matter most to Kentuckians." 

"The information we have seen shows Bruce strongly positioned to defeat Mitch McConnell in November and that is what he intends to do," Katz's statement said. "We are proud to have received endorsements from several Kentucky labor unions and continue to build a campaign to bring change to Washington."

This comes more than a month after a Lunsford campaign polling memo leaked out showing that he held a commanding lead over Fischer and Andrew Horne, a candidate who has since dropped out. That showed Lunsford with 44 percent, Horne with 11 percent and Fischer with 4 percent.

Kim Geveden, Fischer's consultant, however, said that Kentucky Democrats won't be swayed by Washington Democrats' infatuation with Lunsford. He also said, without naming any officials, that Fischer and potential donors have received pressure to stay out of the race.

"The Washington establishment's power brokers up there have reached out in many directions and tried to pressure Greg out of the race and pressured some of his contributors," Geveden said.

- Ryan Alessi