Staff members of Congressman Robert Weygand are peddling poll results alleging that Weygand holds a 63 to 21 percent lead over Richard Licht in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. The survey of 412 registered voters who say they are likely to vote in the September primary was conducted January 12 to 19, 2000. It had a margin of eror of +/- 4.9 percentage points and was undertaken by Weygand's polling firm, Bennett, Petts and Blumental of Washington, D.C.

No information was released about question wording, the order of questions leading up to the candidate preference item, or whether cueing items might have boosted the poll in favor of Weygand. It is possible to "juice" a survey in favor of a particular candidate by asking leading questions prior to the candidate preference item or by slanting the question in ways favorable to a client. It remains to be seen whether independent surveys will find a similar margin in that primary race. Stay tuned!