Politico's Maggie Haberman reports on some new numbers in the NY gubernatorial election, which show Tea Party extremist Carl Paladino to be a growing threat:
"Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Cuomo, who had led the GOP field by thirty points for most of the year, is now leading Republican rival Carl Paladino by just six points among likely voters, an astonishing new Quinnipiac University poll shows. Among the most surprising numbers in the survey is that 49 percent of independents prefer Paladino, compared to 43 percent for Cuomo, an inverse of the topline number. It's the first head-to-head of the general election, and Q's first likely-voter survey.The margin of error is 3.6 percent, and Rick Lazio, who is currently the Conservative Party nominee but whose intentions are unclear, was not included in the survey. Nonetheless, the numbers show that Cuomo is almost certainly going to have to end his 'Rose Garden' strategy and start attacking and defining Paladino."
Paladino, as you may recall, opposes gay marriage, abortion even in the case of rape, and the Park51 project.
Here's the poll.
