Senate debates are completed, polls tightening! Murray brings in the "big guns"

Its been a busy week for Patty Murray and Dino Rossi. Upon the completion of their final debate last Sunday, Bill Clinton flew into Paine Field to rally the Democratic troops for Murray. Murray will also be welcoming President Obama and First Lady Michelle to campaign on her behalf in the next few weeks. Mr. Rossi vowed during the debate to continue traveling across meeting with the voters, slamming Murray for the visits from Washington DC bigwigs.

We had the opportunity to watch the debate last Sunday, and it was clear that Mr. Rossi came prepared to attack. This was noticeably absent on their first debate in Spokane. While Ms. Murray was clearly more calm and poised, Mr. Rossi was firing on all cylinders, attacking Murray as a career politician--repeatedly asking which Washington she was really serving. Murray often countered that Mr. Rossi was not answering the moderators' questions', a common theme in both candidates answers. Jerry Cornfield, political reporter for the Everett Herald has a synopsis of the second debate online. His "scorecard" states that while Ms. Murray gained the advantage on the first debate, Mr. Rossi gained the advantage on the second.

In our last post, we discussed some of the recent polls, and that things were looking good for Murray. Post debate polling shows that the race has tightened dramatically.A McClatchy-Marist poll published today shows the candidates neck and neck, with Murray leading by one point, 48-47%. Another Public Policy Polling poll, published yesterday, indicates Murray with a two point lead, 49-47%. An important note to keep in mind is that both of these polls were conducted post-debate, which occurred last Sunday. The polls held prior to the date and discussed below gave Murray quite an edge. This seems to be in line with Jerry Cornfield's thoughts on Sunday's debate.

Stay tuned for further analysis, including a guest commentary with State Representative Mike Hope on how he believes the Senate race will affect his own campaign in the 44th legislative district.