Did Internal Polling Make Berg Overconfident?

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Written By:
Rob Port

Nov 27, 2012
9:30am

Last night Roll Call reporter Shira Toeplitz posted on Twitter that, according to two of her sources, Rep. Rick Berg had internal polling showing him with a six point lead heading into election day. Her sources also claim that he ended the race with plenty of money still in the bank (something soon to be verified with FEC reports).

So who did the polling? I’m pretty sure it was Public Opinion Strategies which lists Berg as a client on their website. Also, according to the latest FEC data available online, Berg’s campaign gave $121,500 in payments to POS in January, April, June and July.

I’m sure further FEC disclosures will indicate more payments.

Whatever the polling, though, it seems ludicrous that Berg wouldn’t have emptied his campaign coffers to ensure victory on election day. Would it have made a difference? It’s hard to say, and hindsight is 20/20, but losing a close race with a significant amount of money in the bank sure makes it seem like you didn’t do everything you could to win.