HI-Merriman River Group: Internal shows Case (D) leading in Primary and General

[Tender Branson]

We also did a survey on possible primary and general elections through Merriman River Group (March 2011; 1,012 registered voters statewide; 3% margin of error). I retained very good overall name recognition and favorability, prevailed in the Democratic primary matchups (for example, Case 47%, Hannemann 35%, Unsure 18%), and did best among the Democrats in a general election against presumed Republican nominee Linda Lingle (Case 49%, Lingle 37%, Unsure 14%).

http://www.edcase.com/senate-12-update/

PPP will have an HI-Sen general election poll out on behalf of Daily Kos/SEIU in the next couple of days.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/28/960811/-DK-Elections-Daily-Digest:-3-28

[Tender Branson]

Looks about right, Merriman is normally a good pollster, they got the CT Gov. and Sen. race right last year and predicted 3 of the 5 CD's in CT correctly. They also did well last year in the HI races.

But let's see what PPP shows, but in general Case should be the next US Senator from HI.

[JohnnyLongtorso]

Oh joy, another Ed Case campaign.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     His numbers against Lingle strike me as rather weak, especially considering this is an internal for him. Of course, this is Democratic country, so he's the overwhelming favorite at this juncture anyway.

[DrScholl]

For a former Governor, that's where I would expect Lingle to be. I do wonder how much better he polled than other Democrats against Lingle, he didn't release those numbers, so I guess the difference was marginal.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Ugh.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Friggin' blue dogs.

[redcommander]

DINO.

[Holmes]

Is this an internal poll? In Hawaii? C'mon...

[Horus]

Internal.

I'd like to see Hirono in this seat. Case would be a waste. A DINO from Hawaii is the last thing we need...

[Badger]

In fairness to Case, does he really deserve his rep on this board and elsewhere as a DINO? Yes he voted for the Iraq War (like almost every Democratic Presidential candidate in 2004 other than Kucinich, FWIW), but he took a major FF stance in the Hawaii House defending gay marriage despite being overwhelmingly unpopular at the time.

What else in his congressional career earns him this label?

[Landslide Lyndon]

In fairness to Case, does he really deserve his rep on this board and elsewhere as a DINO? Yes he voted for the Iraq War (like almost every Democratic Presidential candidate in 2004 other than Kucinich, FWIW), but he took a major FF stance in the Hawaii House defending gay marriage despite being overwhelmingly unpopular at the time.

What else in his congressional career earns him this label?

From what I read, he endorsed Lieberman's independent bid in 2006 and like him he frequently whines to the media about how the libruls are destroying the party.

[JohnnyLongtorso]

In fairness to Case, does he really deserve his rep on this board and elsewhere as a DINO? Yes he voted for the Iraq War (like almost every Democratic Presidential candidate in 2004 other than Kucinich, FWIW), but he took a major FF stance in the Hawaii House defending gay marriage despite being overwhelmingly unpopular at the time.

What else in his congressional career earns him this label?

His position on gay marriage is one thing I'll give him credit for, but in general he's just an opportunistic moderate hero. The quote of his I have to always bring up is when he was asked whether he was running for office in 2010; he said he was considering running for Governor, Senator, or either of the House seats, he just hadn't decided which. I realize politicians are ambitious, but he could have dialed it down a little.

[Badger]

In fairness to Case, does he really deserve his rep on this board and elsewhere as a DINO? Yes he voted for the Iraq War (like almost every Democratic Presidential candidate in 2004 other than Kucinich, FWIW), but he took a major FF stance in the Hawaii House defending gay marriage despite being overwhelmingly unpopular at the time.

What else in his congressional career earns him this label?

His position on gay marriage is one thing I'll give him credit for, but in general he's just an opportunistic moderate hero. The quote of his I have to always bring up is when he was asked whether he was running for office in 2010; he said he was considering running for Governor, Senator, or either of the House seats, he just hadn't decided which. I realize politicians are ambitious, but he could have dialed it down a little.

Yeah, I'll agree he reeks of ambition even compared to most politicians. But that's hardly an ideological issue of DINOism.

If PX's analysis is correct though, that explains some of it. Even if Case held (holds?) firmly to believing the Iraq War was necessary, going out of his way to endorse Lieberman running as an independent and then decrying librlz "destroying the party" etc. is not only unnecessary and unappealing, but pretty darn stupid in Hawaii.