After a brutal week, she’s moving in the wrong direction and could fail to reach the 35 percent threshold required to avoid having the nomination decided by convention, where she will almost certainly lose to grassroots favorite Rob Hogg. And that’s if she doesn’t lose outright on Tuesday to Hogg, who trails by only a handful of points.
In either scenario, the Washington-backed dynamo recruited by the DSCC and courted by Harry Reid is facing the real possibility that she won’t even be her party’s nominee.
- “Judge, who also served as a state senator and Iowa’s agriculture secretary, polled the most support among 1,361 likely Democratic primary voters with 37 percent to Hogg’s 31 percent, according to a poll conducted by Burlington radio station KBUR-AM 1490.” (“Poll: Judge Holds Slight Lead Over Hogg In Senate Primary,” Quad City Times, 6/2/16
Those numbers don’t bode well for Judge, whose closing argument for the nomination has been weak to say the least. During Wednesday night’s debate, Judge was ‘befuddled’ and was even caught in a lie about her involvement in Chet Culver’s veto of a major labor bill.
- “*One of the reasons is Judge’s continued inability to lay to rest her role as lieutenant governor in Gov. Chet Culver’s veto of a 2008 expansion of collective bargaining. Last week, Judge accused Hogg, a state senator from Cedar Rapids, of being misinformed about labor leaders’ efforts to negotiate a compromise with Culver on the bill. ‘I don’t believe that there was a lot of back and forth in negotiation on that particular piece of legislation,’ she said on IPTV. Iowa Federation of Labor President Ken Sagar disputed that account this week, saying he personally met with Judge and others to try to hammer out an agreement on the bill.” (Kathie Obradovich, “Debate: Patty Judge Fumbles Labor Issue,” Des Moines Register, 6/2/16)
- “On Wednesday, Judge was befuddled by a question about China gaining the advantage in renewable fuel industries.” (Kathie Obradovich, “Debate: Patty Judge Fumbles Labor Issue,” Des Moines Register, 6/2/16)*
After making a habit of avoiding the campaign trail and skipping debates, Judge blew one of her few chances to make her case to voters – days before they head to the polls.
- “But if winning debates is about being the most informed on issues and the best at conveying a clear message, Judge didn’t win Wednesday’s debate. She didn’t win last week’s debate on Iowa Public Television, either.” (Kathie Obradovich, “Debate: Patty Judge Fumbles Labor Issue,” Des Moines Register, 6/2/16)
This poll makes it official: Patty has problems and should probably panic.