RealClearPolitics.com has moved N.C.’s 2nd Congressional District, now represented by Democrat Bob Etheridge, from “likely Democrat” to “leans Democrat.” The Cook Political Report still considers the district “solid Democrat.”
In a blog post, RCP’s Sean Trende discusses the Civitas poll last week showing Etheridge’s GOP opponent leading, and also gives context to Public Policy Polling’s rebuttal that contrasted the poor Etheridge numbers with U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson’s poor showing in South Carolina after his “You lie!” incident:
Of course, there are some critical differences here as well: Wilson is a conservative Republican running in an R+9 district. Etheridge, on the other hand, is a generally centrist Democrat running in an R+2 district (though it is more Democratic at the state and local level), who has compiled a voting record in this Congress that is much more in line with the national Democrats. This incident is also occurring much closer to the November elections than the Joe Wilson incident.
