Sparks happy about progress, down by 13

Democrat Ron Sparks is touting his gains in the latest poll conducted in the race for governor, even though he is still 13 points behind Republican state Rep. Robert Bentley.
Bentley leads the popular two-term agriculture commissioner 52 percent to 39 percent in the latest poll released by the Capital Survey Research Center, the polling arm of the Alabama Education Association.
In the last poll by the CSRC, Bentley was ahead by 22 points, according to Sparks' campaign. Sparks credited the gain to his first ad, which attacked Bentley for his stance on an education lottery.
The latest poll was completed Sept. 21, according to Sparks. Nine percent of people are undecided.
"This is important news because it shows that as more people hear our message more people understand the differences between me and my opponent, driving us closer to victory," Sparks said in an e-mail to supporters.
Bentley believes he has a larger lead. The Tuscaloosa dermatologist cited a Rasmussen telephone survey of likely voters that has him with 55 percent of the vote. In that poll, Sparks has 35 percent of the vote.
"We are pleased with the results of this latest poll, but we know there's a lot of work still ahead. We are about 40 days away from the election. The only poll that matters is when the voters make their choice on Nov. 2," Bentley said in a statement.
The legislator said he also believes voters are seeing the difference.

-- posted by Sebastian Kitchen