Angry Tom Allen blasts media poll> Democrat calls poll method `unreliable’

AUGUSTA — One day after a statewide poll showed him losing the Democratic primary for governor to Joseph Brennan by more than 3-to-1, Tom Allen charged that the automated poll was “bogus” and inaccurate.

On the Republican side, Rep. Judith Foss said she was pleased the poll found the primary race narrowing, and now she wanted to draw some distinctions between herself and rivals Susan Collins and Rep. Sumner Lipman.

Allen said in a press release the poll conducted by WLBZ-TV in Bangor and WCSH-TV in Portland was “a computer-generated gimmick and not a reliable sample of likely voters.”

The poll said that Brennan, the former two-term governor, led likely Democratic voters with 63 percent of the vote, while Allen got 19 percent. It said Robert Woodbury had 6 percent, Richard Barringer had 5 percent and Rep. Donnell Carroll had 2 percent. The poll said only 5 percent of 500 likely Democratic voters were undecided. It had a margin of error of 4.5 percent.

Allen took issue with the way the poll was conducted, though a spokesman for the Newscenter television stations said the methodology should not affect the accuracy of the poll.

Allen complained that an automated calling system was used, asking respondents with touch-tone telephones to make their choice for governor by pushing a number.

He said with no live interviewer, there was no way to ensure that those participating in the poll were old enough to vote or even registered Democrats. And he said a poll that only surveyed homes with touch-tone phones would automatically exclude about 40 percent of Maine households.

Those factors, Allen said, skew the results and make them inaccurate.

“It’s a bogus poll and the news media is irresponsible to give it any credibility,” Allen said.

Allen said telephone calling by his campaign workers showed “a huge number of undecided voters.”

“Unlike Newscenter, I talk to voters personally,” Allen said. “And what they are telling me is that it’s time for a change, that Joe Brennan had his chance, that he’s run too many times, and they are going to the polls on Tuesday to vote for new leadership.”

Jeffrey Marks, general manager of WLBZ-TV, said the poll encouraged undecided people to make a choice and that could have inflated Brennan’s lead because his name was recognized. It also could have diminished the number who remain undecided.

“I can’t disagree that an automated poll lacks some of the things you get with a human poll,” Marks said. “This gives you instantaneousness. The Bullet Poll people are excellent at it. They’ve licked many of their problems.

“There are all kinds of things that affect polls, but everything we’re seeing indicates that a poll which shows Brennan well in the lead is accurate.”

Republican Judith Foss said she was pleased with her standing in the poll that showed Lipman leading with 20 percent followed by Susan Collins, 17 percent; Jasper Wyman, 13 percent; and Foss, 13 percent.

“Now that it is apparent that the field has narrowed, it’s time to focus on the important issues that separate the leading candidates,” said Foss.

She said Collins and Lipman are too liberal for the Republican mainstream.

“I oppose gay rights legislation and the California emissions standard, and I have a clear plan for cutting spending and lowering taxes,” Foss said. “I represent the clear Republican choice for November because my record shows that I will cut spending and taxes.”