Unnerved Crist touts FL Chamber of Commerce (friendly) polling stats

Florida's lopsided contest for governor has suddenly become a dead heat, according to a new poll that boosts the stakes for tonight's first televised debate between Republican Charlie Crist and Democrat Jim Davis.

The surprising results energized the longtime underdog, Davis, now trailing by only two percentage points in the Quinnipiac University survey, and put Crist on the defensive. Nearly every other poll has showed a double-digit gap.

Crist captured 46 percent of the vote in the Quinnipiac poll, while Davis received 44 percent -- well within the poll's 3.4 percent margin of error, making the results a statistical tie. The same poll two weeks ago found Crist, the state's attorney general, with 53 percent to 43 percent for Davis, a Tampa congressman.

The race tightened largely because of a massive 21-point shift by independent voters to Davis, Brown said. Another encouraging trend for Davis: The percentage of voters who said they did not know enough about him dropped from 57 percent to 23 percent over the past two weeks.

''There's only one answer -- television,'' Brown said. ``Davis was late going on the air because he didn't have as much money. He hasn't made the sale yet, and he's still behind, but he's put himself back in the ballgame.''

The results (of the Quinnipiac poll) clearly unnerved Crist's campaign. His supporters quickly began touting a poll released Monday by the Florida Chamber of Commerce that showed Crist maintaining an 11-point lead. But the chamber's leadership has aggressively backed Crist, while Quinnipiac's poll is independent and nonpartisan.

The Crist campaign dismissed the importance of the polls, and spokeswoman Erin Isaac said that Crist ``looks forward to debating Jim Davis to see the differences.''

The Chamber poll found a sharp division about whether Florida is moving in the right direction. It said 46 percent of survey respondents like the way things are going, while 47 percent said the state is moving in the wrong direction.

snip

Throughout the campaign, Crist has promised to continue Gov. Jeb Bush's policies in education, crime and economic development - while Davis has promised change.

Until recently, Charlie Crist said he was a strong believer in denying felons an automatic right to vote after they left prison.
He was equally emphatic that the FCAT tests as they are now administered are fine.
And he declared that Citizens Insurance, the state-run company that provides windstorm insurance, should be abolished.

Those stances have one thing in common: Crist has changed his position on all three.

Questioned about the reversals, the Republican candidate for governor calls them ``an evolution.''