Marist Poll: Rossi 47%, Murray 48%

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2:13 PM, Oct 20, 2010 • By JOHN MCCORMACK

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As the Pennsylvania Senate race tightens, so does the race in Washington. McClatchy reports:

With two weeks to go, the Washington state U.S. Senate race is a virtual dead heat, with Democratic Sen. Patty Murray holding a 1-point lead, 48-47 percent, over Republican challenger Dino Rossi among likely voters, according to a McClatchy-Marist poll released Tuesday.

The outcome could determine whether Republicans pick up the 10 seats they need to regain control of the Senate.

"This is indeed a cliffhanger, any way you carve up the numbers," said Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., which conducted the survey. "The road to a Republican majority in the Senate could go through Washington state."

While the race is close, Murray is getting awfully close to 50% in the RCP average of polls. She has a 2.2% lead over Rossi (49% to 46.8%). But the AP dropped a story on Monday that can only hurt Murray. Because of the national health care law, the aerospace company Boeing, one of the largest employers in Washington state, "is asking some 90,000 nonunion workers to pay significantly more for their health plan next year." Yesterday, the Rossi campaign released a new ad, which quoted Murray on Obamacare: "Not only did I read the bill, but I helped to write it."