By Patrick B. McGuigan

Published: 20-Jul-2010

The campaign manager for Scott Pruitt, a Republican candidate for Attorney General, is touting polling data showing the former state Senator from Broken Arrow leading Oklahoma city attorney Ryan Leonard, Pruitt’s rival for the Grand Old Party’s nomination.

Tuesday afternoon (July 20), Leonard’s manager countered Pruitt’s support is “relatively stagnant,” while Leonard’s “is growing.”

In what Pruitt campaign manager Tyler Laughlin described as a poll of “likely GOP voters”, Pruitt had a 37%-19% edge as the Leonard campaign began an advertising blitz assailing Pruitt’s credentials last weekend. Laughlin asserted “the Leonard campaign is desperate as we approach the last days of the race and is using these ads as a ‘hail Mary’ pass to win votes.”

Dresner, Wickers and Associates (DWA), a California-based polling organization, said Pruitt has a 16-point advantage in the Oklahoma City market, and a 25-point edge in the Tulsa area. DWA’s analysis, provided to CapitolBeatOK by the Pruitt campaign, is that Pruitt had the edge among important conservative Republican constituencies.

Among all groups, however, Pruitt’s lead did not at the time of the survey constitute a majority of the 300 likely Republican primary voters who were polled. DWA said the margin of error for the sample size is 4.5%.

In response to CapitolBeatOK’s request for comment on the poll, Jonathan Buxton, Ryan Leonard’s campaign manager, said today, “Mr. Pruitt has high name ID from his prior races and the Redhawks ads, but his numbers are relatively stagnant in the thirties. Ryan Leonard’s base of support is growing rapidly.”

In the campaign, both candidates have emphasized conservative legal views and policies. The winner of the July 27 primary will face Democrat Jim Priest in the November general election.