Blackwell News

From the WMD Mailbag:

Secretary of State Ken Blackwell's campaign for governor got a boost from an unexpected source this week, as Democrat Columbus Mayor Mike Coleman's campaign released polling data showing Blackwell with a commanding lead over his two GOP rivals. The Coleman survey showed Blackwell leading the GOP with 37% of Ohio Republicans' support to Auditor Betty Montgomery's 19% and Attorney General Jim Petro's 17%.

"We have previously released our own polls showing our double digit lead," said Blackwell campaign manager Mike Hernon. "Now even the Democrat surveys say the GOP primary is basically over.

"These polls show it's time for all Republicans to unite behind the winner, Ken Blackwell, and start a full-fledged campaign to win the general election and get Ohio moving again," Hernon said.

According to the Coleman campaign communication, Lake Snell Perry Mermin | Decision Research conducted the statewide survey among 500 likely November 2006 General Election voters between July 18-20, 2005. The sample includes an oversample of 100 Democratic Primary voters for a total of 260 Democratic Primary voters. The margin of error for the full sample is +/-4.4 percentage points. The survey was released by the Coleman campaign earlier this week.

I don't have a source for this poll. Anybody see this information anywhere?