Harrington’s campaign against Wasserman Schultz fleeced small donors

BizPacReview.com ^ | November 26, 2012 | Jack Furnari

[T.O.K.]

Rank-and-file Republicans from all over the country wanted to get rid of Debbie Wasserman Schultz so badly, they were ripe for manipulation. And manipulated they were. The Karen Harrington campaign released the results of an Oct. 1-2 poll that reportedly showed Harrington only 4.5 percentage points behind Wasserman Schultz. It was breathlessly headlined, “Karen Harrington Releases Poll Results, Wasserman Schultz In Jeopardy of Losing.” Thirty-three days after the poll’s release, Harrington received just 36 percent of the vote, getting crushed by Wasserman Schultz’s 63 percent total. That’s a 27-point loss. A laugher for the Democrats. Custer at Little Big Horn. A massacre. It’s not like there was some cataclysmic event between Oct. 2 and Nov. 6 that caused Harrington’s support to collapse. Harrington – who did not return my calls for comment – was not caught on video kicking a puppy or burning the American flag.

[T.O.K.]

We have to be honest with ourselves to continue the fight against Libs. IT IS CRUCIAL! It's bad enough that we get lied to by Libs and media lapdogs. When our own Party candidates skew numbers to get money it crosses a line and only hurts us as conservatives. I remember when that poll came out. I did not believe it, but I never really thought of it as a lie until after I saw how blatantly off it was.

[Strategerist]

This isn’t the first time this happened - during the Christine O’Donnell campaign, while there wasn’t an actual poll released, rumors were posted of “internal polls” showing that the race was “close” (I strongly suspect those polls didn’t exist, and legitimate polls at the time showed O’Donnell being annihilated, which she was) that gained much credence here out of wishful thinking, and I strongly suspect the rumors originated in the O’Donnell campaign for fundraising purposes.

There also were at least two advocacy group-sponsored polls (pro-life groups) showing the Akin race being tied - I don’t have any evidence those polls were linked to the Akin campaign, though.

The lesson here is don’t believe polling data of any kind from campaigns, or from advocacy groups. As much as people hate the mainstream media and universities, their polls are much more accurate.

[Jacvin]

It’s a shame that a conservative candidate would stoop this low

[NTHockey]

O’Donnell was done in by RINOs in Delaware who voted for an avowed Marxist, rather than see a Conservative elected. One reason I no longer am a Republican. Looking for the TEA Party to start up.

[SmileRight]

I received those fund raising emails. I remember thinking it was suspect at the time. That district would never go Republican. She should be ashamed her campaign was so deceptive.