Almost incredibly, a scandal which would normally bring down a politician or at least cut his lead in the polls has not affected Democrat U.S. Senate nominee Cal Cunningham in North Carolina.
According to a just-completed New York Times/Siena poll, Cunningham leads Republican Sen. Thom Tillis 41% to 37% statewide. Libertarian Shannon Bray placed third with 4%.
Two weeks ago, Cunningham's front-running challenge to Tillis was rocked by revelations that the Democrat — married and a father of two — had been exchanging text messages of a sexual nature with a married woman other than his wife.
Cunningham subsequently admitted the messages were his and he and his wife were working out problems in their marriage.
"Cunningham's team has been very effective in their messaging, their ad buying and their ability to pivot," veteran Tarheel State political analyst Marc Rotterman told Newsmax.
Rotterman said that Cunningham's team has been "portraying Senator Tillis as a Washington insider who is in the pocket of 'Big Pharma,' the insurance industry, and that he is against Medicaid expansion."
Rotterman concluded that in the public polls, he has seen little drop-off of support by Cunningham's base or by independents.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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