No foolin' - really?

I know a fair number of people will consider this a cheap shot, but is this something a legitimate candidate would cite?

As I pointed out yesterday, I get a lot of e-mail from candidates asking me for money. But in building his case for his campaign, Larry Hogan made the following statement:

My campaign for Governor has a commanding lead in the Republican primary. In fact, a recent poll shows that we garner more support than all the other candidates combined, with over 50 percent of voters supporting us. We can win this race!

Really? You're citing the Red Maryland poll, which even the authors admit isn't scientific and is backed by a website which endorsed you before you even formally entered the race? How low of information voters do you think you'll reach?

Granted, I've made news before from a Larry Hogan poll of my own but at least at the time I fessed up to the fact it wasn't a scientific poll.

And maybe it's not Larry's fault, since the e-mail itself traces back to a firm called SalientMG. But it is a little deceptive to say you already have over 50 percent primary support when no reputable poll puts you over 20 percent at the moment.

In many respects Hogan's statement is like bragging about winning a straw poll, which a fellow candidate has done on a couple occasions only to be mocked for doing so. Then again, we can be far more certain those running the straw polls probably weren't in the tank for the winner. The Red Maryland poll wasn't quite like the Crimean referendum, but it was sort of close.

I'll be more interested to see the fundraising reports in a couple weeks. If Larry Hogan has raised over 50% of the Republican money then maybe I'll see him as a more legitimate front runner - right now I think it's still anyone's race. Some have a lot more work to do than others, but we still have almost three months.