Rep. John Sweeney - Push Poller?

Some of us live in the 'head' portion of the congressional disrict represented by republican John Sweeney. We don't get much coverage of Mr. Sweeney or his re-election campaign in this area. However, there is an interesting article in the Times Union concerning possible 'push polling' by the Sweeney campaign.

According to several people who got the call, it started out with fairly innocuous questions about whether the country is headed in the right direction and if President Bush is doing a good job. Next came the question about who the responder planned to vote for in the 20th CD race: Gillibrand or U.S. Rep. John Sweeney, R-Clifton Park.

Bob Hudak, a Corinth resident who is a “blank” (not enrolled in any political party), said he picked Gillibrand, and was then asked whether his choice would change if he knew, for example, that she doesn’t live in the district, that her law firm represented an Enron crook, or she had used the death of American soldiers in Iraq for political gain.

So who is paying for the 'push poll'? Well, Sweeney's campaign claim they have nothing to do with the poll. But it appears that it may be paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee. This type of campaign tactic sure looks like Rove-inspired 'swiftboating' tactics.