In case you missed it, state and national media are reporting on Ron Johnson’s comeback as the race heads into the final stretch of the campaign, with polls showing the race to be a dead heat and Paul Ryan giving another boost to Ron’s already strong campaign.
The Daily Caller reports that Ron and Speaker Ryan are working closely together to further strengthen Wisconsin Republicans’ best-in-the-nation ground game: “The Wisconsin Senate race has quickly turned into one of the most heated in the nation, and House Speaker Paul Ryan is putting strong emphasis on helping Sen. Ron Johnson fend off his Democratic opponent, former Sen. Russ Feingold. … A source close to the Johnson campaign said Ryan’s popularity and respect within the state has made him an invaluable ally to the senator, with him acting as a sort of liaison to the political world. … Despite Johnson’s race once being dubbed a long shot by a number of political analysts, he’s managed to close what was once a significant gap. He now polls ahead or within the margin of Feingold, a fight Ryan helped brace him for.”
National Review says that there is a “GOP Senate comeback in Wisconsin”after Ron has started to surge in the polls: “Then something funny happened. A handful of recent polls show Johnson mounting a breathtaking last-minute comeback: The latest Marquette University Law School poll puts him just two points behind Feingold, within the poll’s margin of error, and campaign sources say this tracks with their internal numbers, which are calculated using the Wisconsin Republican party’s data machine, which helped Scott Walker fend off a recall and then got him reelected. … There’s another interesting factor at work in the Johnson–Feingold rematch. This has been billed as the year of outsiders, with voters consistently saying they are fed up with politics-as-usual. Well, Johnson is actually a Washington outsider who worked his way through college at the University of Minnesota and went on to become the CEO of the plastics-manufacturing company founded by his father-in-law and brother-in-law. He calls himself a ‘citizen legislator’ and he has pledged to serve only two terms.”
The Wisconsin State Journal reports that the latest Marquette poll shows that the race has narrowed to within the margin of error: “The U.S. Senate race in Wisconsin has tightened to its narrowest margin to date in the Marquette Law School Poll. Former Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold leads incumbent Republican Sen. Ron Johnson 46-44 among likely voters. … Johnson’s name recognition and favorable rating have increased markedly since the previous Marquette poll among likely voters. Last month 39 percent viewed him unfavorably and 35 percent viewed him favorably, while 26 percent had no opinion. … This month he improved to 43 percent favorable, 37 percent unfavorable and 20 percent with no opinion. … Franklin said Johnson’s improving numbers might be explained by voters paying more attention heading into the final month of the election and Republicans rallying around their candidate.”