ANOTHER POLL WITH NO GREAT SURPRISES

The Buzz, the St. Petersburg Times' political blog, reports today that the latest poll of 407 Floridians conducted February 20-23 by the Elon University Institute for Politics and Public Affairs in North Carolina shows no great surprises in regard to the U.S. Senate and gubernatorial races.

Incumbant Democratic senator Bill Nelson continues to hold a commanding lead over Republican challenger (for now) Katherine Harris, with Nelson favoured by 41.2 percent of the respondants and Harris at 20.4 percent. Still a large number of apparant undecideds at 38.4 percent.

The governor's race seems to remain wide open, with 44.9 percent saying they were not sure or undecided. Among the four major candidates, the highest number went to Attorney General Charlie Crist with...8.4 percent. He was followed by state CFO Tom Gallagher with 5.3 percent, Congressman Jim Davis with 4.1 percent, and State Senator Rod Smith with one percent. Another 15.8 percent favour someone else.

Of course, the poll was taken before the stink really covered Katherine Harris' campaign with her apparant ties to convicted defense contractor Mitchell Wade and illegal contributions. I would guess in Ms. Harris' mind today would be that if Tom DeLay (R - TX) can win his party primary in Texas as he did Tuesday...

But you can put the words of Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson into play here (actually talking about DeLay), as Harris has no primary opposition yet:

"He still has a hell of a fight in the general election."