Sorry, no stinkin’ polls for you!

I’ve been receiving emails sporadically from Gillibrand-Treadwell watchers asking why I haven’t been using poll numbers to gauge the race.

The answer is that there are no stinkin’ polls, as Radiobob might put it.

Siena tracked this race in 2006, when Gillibrand was a VERY longshot. But this year, when the race is arguably very competitive, they opted out.

Both campaigns say on background that they’ve done internal polling. And I’ve heard the results of those polls described but only at third hand.

Even in a blog I won’t quote information that’s uncorroborated and third hand. Standards, standards…

All the national pundits I can find, including the Washington Post, Stuart Rothenberg, Larry Sabato, and Congressional Quarterly agree that this race leans Democratic.

But Sandy Treadwell is spending millions of dollars on TV ads in a district that George Bush carried handily four years ago.

So I’ll be watching this one very closely on Tuesday.