A new poll shows Gov. Bill Richardson gaining little ground over the last six months in Barack Obama’s home state of Illinois, whose primary is important because of its early date – Feb. 5 – and the Chicago media market.
Richardson has spent little time in the state since jumping into the race on Jan. 21, so the new American Research Group poll isn’t a surprise.
The poll, conducted July 6-9, has Obama in the lead with the support of 37 percent of likely Democratic primary voters. Hillary Clinton is in second with 33 percent, John Edwards is third with 10 percent and Richardson is fourth with 4 percent.
Twelve percent said they are undecided in the poll, which surveyed 600 people and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.
The last time the company polled Illinois, in January, Obama was at 36 percent, Clinton was at 30 percent, Edwards was at 5 percent and Richardson was a 3 percent and tied with Joe Biden, who is at 1 percent in the newest poll.
An interesting comparison
Meanwhile, Richardson is drawing some comparison to baseball legend and pariah “Shoeless” Joe Jackson in a new Associated Press article. Richardson toured the site today where the 1989 movie Field of Dreams was filmed and told the news service he would consider pardoning Jackson.
Jackson and seven other members of the White Sox were banned from baseball for life after a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series, though some historians say he was innocent.
“I was asked if I would consider pardoning ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson, and the answer is yes. I’ll consider it, if Scooter Libby can get off the hook,” the news service quoted Richardson as saying.
The article then compared the two:
“Like ‘Shoeless’ Joe, Richardson’s baseball career has been the subject of debate. Richardson had maintained that he was drafted in 1966 by the Kansas City – now Oakland – Athletics, based on a program from a summer league team he played on that said he was ‘Drafted by K.C.,’” the article states. “In 2005, Richardson acknowledged he hadn’t been drafted.”
“A Richardson aide said Wednesday that he was offered a $25,000 signing bonus by a scout for the Houston Colt .45’s/Astros organization in the mid-1960s,” the article states. “He said his father insisted he go to college instead.”
The article then goes on to detail Richardson playing catch with two high-school brothers and taking a few swings with a bat – one of them sending a ball into the thigh of a bystander who was not hurt – before visiting with the owners of the movie site.
Richardson told the news service he has seen Field of Dreams 18 times, and it’s his second-favorite movie behind Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
A new poll shows Gov. Bill Richardson gaining little ground over the last six months in Barack Obama’s home state of