Dodd Internal Poll: He Can Win!

Sen. Chris Dodd's (D-CT) campaign has released an internal poll, saying that the endangered incumbent's chances for re-election in 2010 aren't so bad as people think.

The poll, conducted by the Democratic firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, has Dodd trailing Republican former Rep. Rob Simmons by 51%-46%, and in a 46%-46% tie with former Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon. That might sound unimpressive for an incumbent, but consider that other recent polls have Dodd behind Simmons by around ten points. Then again, this is an internal poll that the campaign chose to release, so the obvious caveats apply.

"Once voters hear both positive and negative information about all three candidates, Dodd gains ground and leads McMahon by 5 points, 50 to 45 percent, and is in a statistical dead heat with Simmons, 49 to 48 percent," the polling memo says, though it's not immediately clear just what all of these pieces of information were. "Furthermore, voters respond positively to Dodd's work in the Senate, particularly on health care reform, the passage of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act, and Dodd's economic plan to help small businesses and create jobs."