Polls show key Kerry gains (with Edwards -Tenn, North Carolinia ) [View All]

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http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/articles/2004/07/16/polls_show_key_kerry_gains/

Polls show key Kerry gains
By Brian C. Mooney, Globe Staff | July 16, 2004

The selection of Southerner John Edwards as his running mate is providing at least a short-term boost to John F. Kerry's presidential candidacy in Tennessee and North Carolina, states generally considered to be beyond the Democrat's reach in November.

A poll conducted by Zogby International after Kerry introduced the North Carolina senator as his vice presidential pick indicates that the Massachusetts senator was in a flat-out tie with President Bush in Tennessee, with both at 48 percent. A Zogby poll less than a month earlier indicated Bush was leading by 18 percentage points.

Meanwhile, a Mason- Dixon/ WRAL-TV poll released yesterday indicated that the Kerry-Edwards ticket was within 3 percentage points of Bush-Cheney in North Carolina, also long considered to be safe territory for the Republicans. Independent polls had indicated that Kerry was trailing Bush in the state by 6 percentage points in May and 7 percentage points in June.<snip>

Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, another independent polling firm that conducts 500-voter daily tracking surveys in the presidential race, said: ''If this state is in play or seriously headed toward the Democratic camp, then the Bush campaign is in serious trouble. But I don't see that happening."

But a senior Kerry strategist said the poll may indicate an opportunity for the Democrats to stretch the map, forcing Republicans to expend resources to defend an area thought to be safe.

''Usually what happens is the Republicans lock up their base early and then wrap the noose around the Democrats in the Midwest," said the strategist, who asked not to be named. ''This time it looks like we might be able to turn that around."

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