Some Great Polling

(bumped to the top)

The true poll is in November, so this is no time to let up. But July is close enough that these numbers are starting to matter. And I've seen a bounty of really good numbers this week, in races for the House and Senate all across the country.

Rep. Bob Ney, who's listed on 5 indictment reports related to Jack Abramoff and others, is down 11 points to Democratic challenger Zack Space in Ohio's 18th District (OH-18).

Former NFL quarterback Heath Shuler leads the incumbent Rep. Charles Taylor in NC-11 by four points.

In the heavily Republican OH-2, which Paul Hackett just missed nabbing in 2005, Vic Wulsin is tied with Mean Jean Schmidt, the freshman Rep. who called John Murtha a coward on the House floor.

Sen. Robert Menendez is up by 6 in New Jersey's Senate race.

Jim Webb has been tearing Sen. George Felix Allen a new one, and a new poll shows Webb within striking distance despite having a far lower name ID.

Claire McCaskill is running neck and neck with Sen. Jim Talent, Mr. Stem Cell Flip-Flop, in Missouri.

Jon Tester, he of the flat top, leads corrupt incumbent Sen. Conrad Burns in Montana.

And I haven't seen a poll this week, but last I heard Rick Santorum was down by 18.

There may be more, but these are just the ones I've seen in the last 48 hours. And these are tangible examples, proof that Democratic candidates are getting it done. The generic ballot poll results are nice, but you don't vote for a party, you vote for people. And these people are great candidates, from all sides of the ideological spectrum, who are winning all over the map.

UPDATE: 2 more.

Rasmussen, more of a lean-Republican outfit, incidentally, is reporting that Phil Angelides leads Arnold by 2 points in California, which kind of stuns me.

And they have Rod Blagojevich comfortably ahead in Illinois, which, considering his troubles, is also kind of shocking.

These two results point to some kind of Democratic wave. When even the less successful candidates are caught up in it, something's going on.