Trib WGN poll on Gov Race

I can't find the poll but here's what the Trib says about it today online,

The survey showed Blagojevich with the support of 43 percent of the voters polled, while Topinka had 29 percent and Green Party candidate Rich Whitney had 9 percent. Another 17 percent were undecided, and 2 percent offered choices for governor not among the names appearing on the Nov. 7 ballot.

The poll, conducted Oct. 8 to Wednesday among 600 likely voters, has an error margin of 4 percentage points.

Blagojevich's 14 percentage point advantage over Topinka represents an incremental increase from the 12 percentage point lead he held in a Tribune poll conducted almost a month ago.

It was taken pre Rezko. Trib says this about JBT.

Nearly half of all voters surveyed have an unfavorable view of the Republican nominee--reflecting Blagojevich's TV attack ads, questions of whether she has the gravitas to be governor, and a failure to unify the disparate factions of the state GOP after a fractious March primary.

In the last month, the number of Illinois voters who have an unfavorable opinion of Topinka jumped to 49 percent from 40 percent.

She sure could do more with gravitas and unifying.

I voted Gore-Lieberman because I feared Bush's self-deprecating humor; that it was completely misunderstood in translation by North Korea or Radical Islam. Same thing goes for JBT's style in a state so racked by corruption and scandals as Illinois.

And there are ways to unify with social conservatives; even if you have moderate views on social issues. Justice Scalia gave the principle when he said a Judge is no better equipped to render moral judgements than any other citizen. Aborting a fetus and defining what's a marriage belong on the ballot; not in courts. Hammer away with that principle and I think JBT could unify a bit.

She also should read The Party of Sam's Club: Isn't it time the Republicans did something for their voters? . The authors concluded,

So today's Republican party should be in favor of helping recent immigrants get ahead and slowing the flow of illegal labor--in favor of providing a helping hand to the hard working poor and cutting subsidies to the idle and shiftless--in favor of a tax policy that favors the working class and the productive rich. Above all, it should be in favor of limited government, and in favor of using government's considerable power to shore up the institution that makes a limited government possible--the beleaguered but resilient American family.[Baar's emphasis]

Family values can be a Radical thing. JBT could use them to effect. If it's not all too late.

xp at Bill Baar's West Side