Polls show close Senate races in 3 pivotal states

WASHINGTON -- Democrats are slightly ahead of Republican incumbents in three election battleground states that will help determine control of the Senate, a series of polls released yesterday showed.

In Montana, Democrat Jon Tester had the support of 47 percent of registered voters while incumbent Senator Conrad Burns, a Republican, had the support of 40 percent.

In Ohio, Representative Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, had 45 percent of registered voters, while incumbent Senator Mike DeWine a Republican, had 43 percent.

In Tennessee, Representative Harold Ford Jr., a Democrat, had 43 percent and former mayor Bob Corker of Chattanooga, the Republican Senate nominee, had 42 percent.

Democrats probably must win all three races to take back control of the Senate on Nov. 7. They need to gain six seats overall, and these three are among the six seats held by Republicans that are considered most the vulnerable.

The Democrats are considered to have a better chance of winning back the House, where they need to pick up at least 15 seats to take control.

Another Republican incumbent in the Senate, George Allen of Virginia, was locked in a 43-43 percent dead heat with Democratic challenger James Webb, according to a poll released Friday by McClatchy Newspapers and MSNBC.

Rivals in the Ohio Senate race, one of the closest in the country, appeared on NBC's ``Meet the Press" yesterday for their first televised debate. They argued about what has gone wrong in Iraq and what to do about it.

Brown, who voted against giving President Bush the authority to go to war in 2003, seized on the recent disclosure of a secret intelligence report and new books saying that the war has increased terrorist threats. He accused DeWine of backing the status quo in Iraq and failing, as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, to hold the Bush administration accountable.

DeWine distanced himself from Bush's comments last week that Democrats had become the ``party of cut-and-run," saying he did not know what that statement meant. DeWine said there would not have been a vote for war in 2003 if intelligence about the threat from Iraq's suspected weapons of mass destruction had been accurate.

The two-term senator also said the United States should not put a ``date certain" on a withdrawal of troops from Iraq, but should pull out as soon as Iraqi security forces are able to control the violence. Brown favors a pullout in one and a half to two years.

The new polls underscored how close the Senate races are in the pivotal states and how much rides on the final five weeks of campaigning. The work of both major parties to get their supporters to vote could prove decisive. One in 10 voters remain undecided in Montana and Ohio, 12 percent in Virginia, and 14 percent in Tennessee.

The polls, taken last Monday to Thursday, were conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. for newspapers in each of the states.

In Tennessee, the Republican-held seat is being vacated by Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader who is retiring to run for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

Ford is running as a tough-minded moderate in a state that has trended Republican and did not even back Tennessee son Al Gore for president in 2000. Ford supports the death penalty and voted for the Patriot Act.

Corker will not be outflanked to the right, however. He supports the Iraq war, vows tougher border security, and supports gun rights.

In Montana, Burns has been criticized for his association with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Burns took nearly $150,000 in Abramoff-related contributions before returning them.

Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.