Poll finds Bayh with large lead in U.S. Senate race

INDIANAPOLIS -- U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh has a 39 percentage point lead over Republican challenger Marvin Scott with less than a month remaining before the Nov. 2 election, according to a new statewide poll.\nBayh, a Democrat seeking a second six-year term, is leading Scott, 61 percent to 22 percent, among those surveyed in The Indianapolis Star/WTHR poll released Thursday. Libertarian Albert Barger had 2 percent support in the poll, while 15 percent were undecided.\nThe poll results indicate that many Indiana voters are ready to cross party lines for races at the top of the ballot, as figures released a day earlier showed President Bush far ahead of Democratic Sen. John Kerry -- 61 percent to 33 percent.\nThat ticket splitting is being considered by those involved in the tight campaign between Democratic Gov. Joe Kernan and Republican Mitch Daniels.\nKernan campaign manager Bernie Toon said voters could expect to see Bayh, a former two-term governor, in a television commercial endorsing Kernan, and the two also are expected to campaign together as the election nears.\nRepublicans disagree on whether Bayh's popularity might offset any Bush coattails among voters.\n"Hoosiers in general have a real visceral support for President Bush," said Luke Messer, executive director of the state Republican Party. "I don't think that's there for Evan Bayh. He's obviously a popular figure -- someone people like but don't love."\nA Star/WTHR poll released Tuesday showed Daniels leading Kernan 46 percent to 43 percent.\nThe poll of 957 likely voters was taken Sept. 29 -- Oct. 3 by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, Iowa, and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.\nScott, a sociology professor at Butler University who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1994 and 2000, said the key to defeating Bayh is to raise enough money to buy television ads so he could draw attention to Bayh's voting record.\n"Republicans put him in office," Scott said. "They need to vote him out of office."\nMeanwhile, The Star/WTHR poll Thursday also showed Republican Attorney General Steve Carter has a strong lead over Democratic Joe Hogsett.\nOf those polled, 45 percent would vote for Carter, with 25 percent supporting Hogsett, a former Indiana secretary of state and 28 percent were undecided. Two percent said they supported Libertarian Aaron Milewski.