Top NY Democrat Fundraiser: 'I Feel McCain Is Going To Be Very Difficult To Beat'

You know if Democrats are nervous in New York, they face a potential disaster come November.

Newly completed Republican polls show John McCain running "neck and neck" with Barack Obama in several Democrat-leaning legislative districts on Long Island, in Westchester and upstate, according to surprised GOP operatives.

Republicans aren't at a point of predicting that McCain will win heavily Democratic New York, but they say his better-than-expected showing means a higher GOP vote in November, and thus extra help in the crucial battle for control of the state Senate.

"McCain is doing much better in several areas than a lot of people expected, and that's obviously good for us," said one of the operatives.

"There seems to be a reluctance on the part of a lot of voters to back Obama, and that's benefiting McCain and our legislative candidates as well."

The secret GOP polling comes in the wake of a Siena College poll earlier this month that found Obama leading McCain among traditionally Democratic New York voters by a relatively meager 47 percent to 39 percent - down from 50 percent to 37 percent in July and 51 percent to 33 percent in June.

Don't forget either all the Hillary Clinton voters that already are jumping ship and you have a potential disaster.

The GOP polling is also consistent with growing fears about Obama's candidacy among top New York Democrats, many of whom are still smarting over his failure to pick Hillary Rodham Clinton as his running mate.

"I think most New York Democrats are concerned about Obama's slippage," said a Manhattan-based major Democratic fund-raiser with close ties to the party's leadership.

"I feel McCain is going to be very difficult to beat. He's been running a very smart campaign.

"I also worry that any numbers may not be accurate due to the 'Bradley effect,' so we won't really see an accurate poll until Election Day," the fund-raiser said.