New Polling Data in 1st Senate; Farnese Ad Goes Negative

The Inquirer's "Heard in the Hall" blog reports on new polling data for the 1st Senate district election race, just released by the John Dougherty campaign. The poll, taken March 25-26, shows Dougherty leading among voters who have decided on a candidate, at 31 percent. Activist Anne Dicker is at 18 percent and attorney Larry Farnese at 14. A February poll had Sen. Vincent Fumo at 28 percent before he decided not to run for re-election, the HITH item adds. Still out in front is "undecided" at 37 percent.

The Daily News reports that Farnese is preparing to run a new commercial that "links [John] Dougherty to a pending federal investigation and notes that his union has been cited repeatedly for violating federal labor laws." As Bob Warner describes it, the ad begins with sunshine and children and dissolves into a collage of headlines about federal investigations. (We'll post a link to the ad here when it is available; the policy on this nonpartisan blog is to post links to available media from all candidates.) According to the Daily News, "Dougherty refused to comment on the advertisement, and [spokesman Brian] Hickey said the campaign would not be 'dragged down' into discussing the specifics."