Jack Hatch
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jack Hatch is celebrating a new poll which shows him cutting into Republican Governor Terry Branstad’s double-digit lead.
A Quinnipiac University Poll released today showed Branstad leading Hatch by 11 points, rather than the 19-point spread the same polling organization found the week before in the race.
“It shows a dramatic shift because Democrats are doing what we said we’d do all along and that is get the vote out, work those absentee ballots and get our base out,” Hatch said in Sioux City. “This is an important election and we’ve always felt from the beginning that Governor Branstad is going to have to earn another term and he hasn’t been able to do that.”
The assistant director of the Quinnipiac Poll said Branstad is “almost certainly” going to beat Hatch, it’s just a question of the margin.
Hatch told a crowd in Sioux City today that he and his running mate, Monica Vernon, had turned down an invitation to appear at a Saturday afternoon rally alongside Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Braley and Bill Clinton.
“You know what? I don’t want to spend four hours waiting for the former president to come on stage when Monica and I can be going out and hit town after town after town,” Hatch said. “…We’ve hit more people by going out in six days than we could have ever expected by walking on stage with the former president.”
Hatch will hold a rally this evening in Des Moines. He plans to vote at his precinct in Des Moines Tuesday morning.
(Reporting by Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City)