Johnson rebuts Kissell poll

Republican congressional candidate Harold Johnson today dismissed a poll done for his rival, Democratic Rep. Larry Kissell, calling it "a desperate move."

The internal campaign poll, by a Democratic firm, showed Kissell with a 17-point lead over Johnson and wider spread over Libertarian Thomas Hill. Kissell highlighted the survey in a fundraising letter last week.

"I'm putting no stock in it," Johnson said today at a GOP rally in east Charlotte. "It's a desperate move to convince people they should forget (Democratic House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi, forget his vote for stimulus."

In his fundraising letter, Kissell quoted from an article about the poll in Roll Call, a Capitol Hill paper. "Kissell said Thursday that while it was nice to have a favorable snapshot of the race, he has no plans to slow down on the campaign trail," the article said.

NRCC targeting Spratt but not Kissell?

In what it calls the "first wave" of its fall plan to take back the House, the National Republican Congressional Committee today released the 40 districts where it has reserved $22 million of air time.

South Carolina's 5th District is on the list. North Carolina's 8th is not.

Democratic U.S. Rep. John Spratt of York faces Republican Mick Mulvaney of Lancaster County in what's expected to be a hard-fought battle.

Democratic incumbent Larry Kissell, whose 8th District stretches from Charlotte to Fayetteville, faces Republican Harold Johnson.

"I'm not concerned about that," Johnson said today. "We had an excellent day of fundraising. We had a very good week last week. We're moving forward ... I know this is a very close race."

Last month the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee reserved $871,000 in airtime on Charlotte stations for Spratt and Kissell. It was part of $7.7 million in TV time reservations the campaign group has made on behalf of Democratic House incumbents. The DCCC has reserved an additional $290,000 in S.C. markets for Spratt.