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Dead Heat is Bad News for Heinrich

That statistical dead heat in the 1st Congressional District race is bad news for Martin Heinrich (subscription):

The 1st Congressional District race is a close one, with Republican Darren White and Democrat Martin Heinrich running nearly even for the open seat, a Journal Poll found.

In interviews with likely voters, Heinrich, a former Albuquerque city councilor, was two points ahead of White, the Bernalillo County sheriff.

Heinrich was backed by 43 percent of the registered, likely voters in the 1st Congressional District survey. White had 41 percent. Sixteen percent were undecided.

The survey was conducted Sept. 29-Oct. 2 and has a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points plus or minus. Heinrich’s 2-point edge over White wasn’t statistically significant, said Brian Sanderoff, president of Research & Polling Inc. in Albuquerque, which conducted the poll.

I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Republicans have an uphill battle this year for a variety of reasons. We all know that. Although I admit I’m confused as to how some folks can be enamored of a change to Democratic control. After all, the Democrats won Congress two years ago on a platform of change, and look how well that has worked out for all of us.

Anyway, back to the poll. Heinrich has more money than White, and based on Democratic performance in mid-term elections in Republican strongholds across the country, Heinrich should be sweeping Darren White in the polls, but he is not.

Disclaimer stuff: In case you missed the previous disclaimers, I’m a big White supporter.