Dake Says Push-Poll Pushed Him to McCaskill

Socially-conservative Democratic Rep. Charlie Dake (#132) said a Republican push-poll that has been distorting his record to voters in Lawrence County has helped solidify his support for U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill this November.

"I might've considered (Jim) Talent before this, but if they are going to pull this on me, I won't vote for a Republican," Dake said. "I can't believe they can get so low."

Dake said he received 6 calls from supporters Sunday telling him they had received calls from a polling agency asking if they would still vote for Rep. Dake if they new a laundry list of his positions.

"They told them I was for gay marriage, that I wanted to give illegal aliens social security and that I'd want to increase the budget by a billion dollars," Dake told me in an interview. "Then they'd say, 'Are you still going to vote for Dr. Dake?'"

"I think it is pretty low down they'd do it. Everybody knows I'm against gay marriage. Just like abortion, when you have 2 adopted kids, you're against abortion," Dake said.

Dake said the calls were being made by a company called Wilkerson & Associates out of Kentucky. According to the website, the company prides itself in providing data collection and analysis to provide "vital marketing information you need to make good business decisions."

Dake said this is a sign that the Republicans are being more aggressive in trying to oust him from his seat. "We thought it was looking pretty good until this negative campaigning came out today," he said.

Will it work?

"Some people will believe it. I can't see how it helps me very much," Dake said.

When I asked Dake if he would support Claire McCaskill for Senate, he said he probably would, but was also considering Republican Jim Talent until today. He said these tactics by Republicans made the decision easy.

Phone calls to Dake's Republican opponent Don Ruzicka were not immediately returned.