-By Warner Todd Huston
Rasmussen polling group has recently reported its findings on the upcoming California Senate race and the results seem to say that the National Republican Senate Committee has jumped the gun by endorsing a candidate so early in the race.
To date, Rasmussen has found that incumbent Senator Barbara Boxer (D) is holding her own against both Republican candidates, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina as well as State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore.
A new Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 survey of the contest in California shows Boxer now beating former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina by 10 points 49% to 39%. Four percent (4%) like some other candidate, and eight percent (8%) are not sure how they will vote.
Against state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, it’s a nine-point race, with Boxer ahead 46% to 37%. Seven percent (7%) prefer another candidate, and 10% are undecided.
It may be a dubious distinction, but at this point DeVore and Fiorina are finding poll results that aren’t much different one from the other. One difference, though, is that Rasmussen finds Fiorina’s unfavaorables standing at 12% while DeVore’s is at 9% — a slight advantage to DeVore, there.
Now, it must be said that we are still very early in this race. Boxer has a much, much higher name recognition and profile than either of the Republican candidates and most Californians have yet to begin to pay much attention to the upcoming Senate race, to be sure. Both Fiorina and DeVore have months ahead to break out and take the lead. It is too early in the race to say who is the obvious leader.
Unfortunately, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) seems to want to choose California’s candidate for it preventing the state’s voters from making their own, informed choice. Earlier in the month, NRSC head Senator John Cornyn (R- TX) already chose Carly Fiorina as the candidate he will back. Rasmussen’s numbers, however, augers that Senator Cornyn has jumped the gun with his too early endorsement.
Cornyn isn’t the only one in the national party jumping the gun, either. This week another Senate candidate might have discovered that the national party started backing him far too early. In Illinois, GOP Chairman Michael Steele is reported as stepping back from the party’s too early backing of Mark Kirk ® for the 2010 race in Illinois for Barack Obama’s old Senate seat.
Initially the national party was lining up behind Mark Kirk, a center left candidate, for a run at Illinois’ junior Senate seat, but recently conservative candidate Patrick Hughes has shown that he shouldn’t be counted out in the primary run for the state party nod. Now reports are that Steele is quietly stepping back from his too early support of Kirk.
It is unfortunate that the national party is so keen to sweep into these state primaries and attempt to chose candidates from Washington instead of giving the citizens of the states the opportunity to chose their own candidates. It should be noted that no conservative candidates seem to be finding the favor of the folks in Washington, unfortunately.
(Cross posted at RedCounty.com)
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as NewsBusters.org, RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, TheRealityCheck.org, RedState.com, Human Events Magazine, AmericanDailyReview.com, and the New Media Journal, among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events and is currently the co-host of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conservatism” heard on BlogTalkRadio. Warner is also the editor of the Cook County Page for RedCounty.com.
He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of PubliusForum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston
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