More good news for Chris Carney

CQ Politics says 10th CD leans Democratic.

CQPolitics.com is changing its rating on the race in Pennsylvania’s 10th District — where scandal-burdened four-term Republican Rep. Don Sherwood is defending his seat — to Leans Democratic from No Clear Favorite.
That ratings change represents CQPolitics.com’s analysis that Sherwood, who has had a tough time living down his admission last year that he had an extramarital affair with a much younger woman, is trailing Democratic challenger Chris Carney, although the contest remains highly competitive.
Carney is a political science professor whose past as a Pentagon adviser on intelligence and terrorism issues has given him added legitimacy in a northeastern Pennsylvania district that has a strong conservative lean, and which votes so regularly Republican that Democrats didn’t even bother to field challengers to Sherwood in 2002 and 2004...

A survey taken Oct. 22-26 by the polling institute at Lycoming College, which is located in the 10th District, showed Carney ahead by 47 percent to 38 percent.
The results were virtually similar to a Keystone Poll taken Oct. 19-23 by Franklin and Marshall College’s Center for Opinion Research in Lancaster, Pa., which had Carney ahead by 50 percent to 38 percent among likely voters.
The Keystone poll showed that 52 percent of respondents had a “not favorable” view of Sherwood — an extremely hazardous level of unpopularity for an incumbent. About one in five voters said Sherwood’s extramarital affair made them more likely to vote against the congressman.
Both surveys were taken after President Bush campaigned for Sherwood in the 10th District on Oct. 19 in an effort to gin up the conservative base vote in a district where 60 percent of voters in 2004 favored Bush’s re-election. But Bush’s numbers are not as robust there as two years ago, in large part because of public skittishness and increasing opposition to the Iraq war.

In the ad wars Carney tells Sherwood to stop lying.

Clarks Summit, PA – Chris Carney called on the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) to pull down a new ad lying about his position on social security. The NRCC has claimed that these lies are based on Carney’s AARP survey answers, yet the AARP stated that the ad “mischaracterizes AARP Voters’ Guide in an effort to mislead voters.”
“With election day less than a week away, Don Sherwood and his Republican cronies continue to lie about my position and scare our seniors. The fact is that I will always keep our promise to our seniors and would never cut Social Security benefits or raise the payroll tax. I also promise to never privatize Social Security, unlike my opponent who is on record saying Social Security should be replaced.”