Poker players are organizing, and they’re targeting Sen. John Kyl:

Gambling911.com has been actively trying to unseat Sen. John Kyl (R-Ariz.) in a race that, should Democratic challenger Jim Pederson win, could tip the balance of power to the left. Kyl has introduced restrictive Internet gambling legislation in nearly every Congressional session since 1998. The site is working with several others to urge Arizona Internet gambers to vote against Kyl and support Pederson.

Kyl, who has seen a healthy lead shrink to six points in the latest Arizona State University poll, doesn’t seem concerned that Internet gamblers will hurt his chances in the upcoming election.

Maybe he ought to take them more seriously:

In Arizona, Democrats believe they see a sleeper race in the process of awakening.

For many months, polls had found Kyl with a clear lead over his Democratic challenger, businessman Jim Pederson. But the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee found surprising strength in a recent survey of people who had voted by early or absentee ballots. That survey of 594 early voters, who included more Republicans than Democrats, found Pederson ahead, 44% to 40%. On Thursday, the committee started $1 million worth of television advertising attacking Kyl.

Barring a Democratic landslide, Kyl’s still probably going to win. The ban passed too close to the elections fo organizing to overcome a 10+ point deficit. But Leach and Goodlatte ought to be these folks’ prime objective in 2008.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 3rd, 2006 at 7:44 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Gambling, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.