In the perfunctory rundown of KY-3 congressional candidates the Courier-Journal ran on Monday, journalist Deborah Yetter included a quote from Rep. John Yarmuth (D - KY / San Francisco) which stated “The polling we’ve done shows me comfortably ahead.”

The statement was a response to claims made by Republican candidate Anne Northup that NRCC polls indicate that she and Yarmuth are in a dead heat race as of right now. This is undoubtedly part of why Northup is widely believed to be the strongest Republican challenger in the country and is attracting financial support from around the country.

However, I was curious if there was any more detail available about the polls Yarmuth was referring to. So I contacted the writer of the article yesterday and had this odd exchange:

ME: in your article yesterday about the ky-3 candidates, you included a statement from yarmuth in which he stated that the polling he’s conducted shows him comfortably ahead.

did you ask him any specifics about that polling, or did he provide any insight into the questions, circumstances, etc.?

~ jefferson poole

C-J: Yeah, why?

ME: well, there was only the one line in the article and i was just curious about if there was any more detail out there.

northup says they’re in a dead heat. he says he’s comfortably ahead.

what did he say about the specifics of the polling that shows him comfortably ahead? what did you ask him?

thanks.
~ jp

C-J: [crickets], [silence], [crickets]

Dare I ask why none of the information devulged by Yarmuth in the interview was included in the article? Maybe some of the numerous superfluous words could have been eliminated in order to include his response, or the questions he didn’t answer, in the article. Was the writer simply not thinking? She probably was in quite a kerfuffle over the second coming of Barack Obama on Monday.

In light of the C-J’s lack of information, I ask you, Rep. Yarmuth, under what circumstances are you “comfortably ahead?” We know that you’ve been taking polls around town and that you have kept the results of those polls private. We know that you could have possibly prevented Northup’s entry into the race if you could have produced some convincing poll results showing you “comfortably ahead.” We also know that if you could have produced some poll results showing you “comfortably ahead” that you could have suppressed some of the groundswell of financial support heading Northup’s way. Instead, she raised $460,000 in 8 weeks and is still on a roll. If you really are “comfortably ahead” in real terms you might want to prove it sometime soon to prevent the rising tide of buyer’s remorse Louisvillians are feeling over your election from gaining unsurmountable strength.

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