Aces & Homages

JASmius: Polls like this and this make me want to scratch Dino behind his ears and rub his belly while he's on his back.

Dino Rossi: You hang around Ace's site quite a bit, don't you?

JASmius: Passed through once or twice; he tasted like tomato soup in the advanced stages of fermentation.

Dino Rossi: No, I don't taste like marinara sauce.

JASmius: Aren't you glad you'll be too far away for me to find out?

~  ~  ~

And you STILL have no idea how long I've been waiting for this:

The survey, conducted by Fabrizio, McLaughlin and Associates for the conservative-aligned American Action Forum, showed Rossi leading Murray 48% to 42% among likely voters. The results indicate that the race has shifted in Rossi’s favor since June, when the same pollster’s survey showed the candidates tied at 46% apiece. …

According to the Fabrizio survey, 45% of likely voters view Murray favorably, compared with 45% who view her unfavorably. That’s not far off from Rossi’s ratings; 46% of likely voters viewed him favorably while 41% viewed him unfavorably.

The number of voters saying that it’s time to elect a new senator in the GOP survey has ticked up slightly since the summer. In June, 46% of those surveyed said it’s time to give a new person a chance. Now, 51% of voters say the same thing, while 39% say that Murray deserves re-election.

Yeah, yeah, partisan poll - but here's the independent confirmation:

Republican challenger Dino Rossi has edged slightly ahead of incumbent Democrat Patty Murray in Washington’s U.S. Senate race.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Washington shows Rossi with 49% of the vote, while Murray’s support stands at 46%. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate in the race, and two percent (2%) are undecided. (To see question wording, click here.)

However, the race remains a Toss-Up in the Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 Senate Balance of Power rankings.

A week ago, the candidates were in a virtual tie as they have been through much of the year, with Rossi earning 48% to Murray’s 47%. Still, Murray’s support has fallen from a high earlier last month of 51%, while Rossi's appears to be trending up slightly.

Porky expended a large chunk of her warchest trying to get the drop on Dino in September, but failed to move the needle much in her direction from the primary (in which Rossi projectedly came out a point ahead).  I suspect that his recent minisurge was fueled by fist-pumping spots like this one:

You can't outrun your record, and the more recent it is, the harder it is to escape.  You might even call this karma from the stolen 2004 Washington gubernatorial election.  The Murray attack ads to which this spot makes pointed reference all borrow "liberally" from the same tired old anti-Rossi attacks of Governor Christine Gregoire from '04 and '08, digging all the way back to Dino's state Senate tenure.  Maybe that had some relevance six years ago (two years ago he got swept away by the Obamanami), but now the klieg lights are squarely on Porky to justify her brain-dead, graft-fueled, worthless incumbency and its slavishly extremist lapdoggery to the Pelosi/Reid Politburo.  And she is failing.

Well, you know the old saying: What goes around, comes around.  Porky Murray rode to the Senate eighteen years ago on Bill Clinton's coattails, and now Barack Obama's coattails are sweeping her out with the other Donk trash.  And Senator 51 gets his big, fat-a, 0-2 meatball over the plate to deposit in the third deck of Safeco Field.

~  ~  ~

JASmius: Couldn't I just get a pint to take home?  Pretty please?

Dino Rossi: Go bug Porky while you still have the chance.

JASmius: Can't.  Bacon grease has too much cholesterol