Poor Jessica Sandlin. Early this week the Rigell campaign left her results out when reporting an internal poll they conducted; then, later in the week, she’s going to spend the night homeless.
Is running for Congress really that bad?!
With respect to the poll, Sandlin was one of the choices that the 300 respondents could have selected. Sandlin claims at least three of the people who responded said they chose her. That would mean she’s polling at least 1%. Given that everyone besides Rigell was polling at 10% or below, that’s better than nothing!
“A good polling company at least includes the names of all the candidates on the release, even if a candidate polled 0%!” exclaimed Sandlin.
But seriously, why would the Rigell campaign diss Sandlin like this?
Their new talking point is that they won’t participate in any debates with any other candidate in the race head-to-head because they want to “be fair” to all the other candidates. How is not reporting the results of one of their other opponent’s fair?
Regarding spending the night homeless, that’s actually a choice by Sandlin.
This Saturday, Sandlin will spend the night homeless in Norfolk in an effort to help highlight the plight of homeless families in our area through the “Home. Less” program as part of Art Everywhere.
“Traveling throughout the Second District over the past several months, I’ve been exposed to just about every corner of Hampton Roads. I have been struck by the numbers of people who are living on the streets, with no place to call home. And while there are several very dedicated shelters in the community, there are certainly not enough of them to cater to the present demand, especially for families- a fast-growing percentage of the homeless population,” Sandlin stated. “Unless folks in positions of leadership and influence are willing to identify with Americans who are living in the margins, the public at-large is not going to know how extensive the problem truly has become. That’s why I think it’s fair of me to ask my opponents—all of them; rich, or not so rich—will you join me in my effort to raise awareness of this issue?”
Good question.
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I had a good email exchange with Jason Miyares, Rigell’s campaign manager, who tells me that Sandlin did poll 1% and that her being left off the Public Opinion Strategies memorandum was largely in part because Sandlin was not part of the benchmark poll the company took earlier in the race.
“This was not in any way a slight towards her, it was an oversight by POS, and was largely due to the fact that she was not in our poll in March,” wrote Miyares.
