Stu Rothenberg: "the Huffman campaign has something to hide."

Kari Chisholm

Stu Rothenberg is one of the most respected independent analysts of political races. So, it's not surprising that the Jim Huffman for U.S. Senate campaign sent him the recent polling memo touting Huffman's campaign. (Jeff Alworth had the back story last week here on BlueO.)

Here's how Rothenberg reacted:

Was I skeptical? Sure. But I read on because in a year such as this, any Democrat might be in trouble, even those who haven’t had tough re-elections in the past. ...

No, there was no initial Wyden-Huffman ballot, no Wyden ID (with favorable and unfavorable) and no Huffman ID.

When I asked pollster Bob Moore for that data, he declined to produce it, noting that the campaign had not authorized its release.

Obviously, those crucial poll results weren’t released because they contradict the conclusion that Wyden is vulnerable. They almost certainly showed Wyden far ahead on the ballot test and with strong favorable ratings. ...

[S]imply asserting that an incumbent is in trouble doesn’t make it so, and nothing in the Moore Information memo suggests that it’s true. In fact, leaving crucial information out suggests that the Huffman campaign has something to hide.

Seems to me that, going forward, reporters and editors that receive polling memos from Moore Information ought to be much more skeptical than they've been in the past.

By Kari Chisholm July 23, 2010