A GOP pollster has asked Democrats who wins if Sarah Palin were to be pitted against Barack Obama in a Democratic primary, or in the general election. Fritz Wenzel (remember this name for  moment) of Wenzel Strategies finds that a slew of Democrats, well, actually, just 8%, who vote for Palin over Obama in a Democratic primary.
In a Palin vs. Obama general election, Wenzel finds that Obama beats Palin, 50-46.
All this is described in the World Net Daily (stop laughing) poll by Wenzel Strategies.
Of course, Palin will not run, and could never get elected, so this entire scenario is just a good way to get Wenzel some attention, and we’re only too happy to do so.
Who is Fritz Wenzel?
I’ll let others tell you.
Salon reporter Bill Frogameni wrote in 2005, “Did a reporter with GOP ties suppress a story that could have cost Bush the White House?”
Bush’s reelection may have been made possible by a Blade reporter with close ties to the Republican Party who reportedly knew about Noe’s potential campaign violations in early 2004 but suppressed the story.
According to several knowledgeable sources, the Blade’s chief political columnist, Fritz Wenzel, was told of Noe’s potential campaign violations as early as January 2004. But according to Blade editors, Wenzel never gave the paper the all-important tip in early 2004.
Wenzel says that he heard allegations of Noe’s misdeeds only in spring 2004 and that he promptly informed his editors of them.
Wenzel, who worked for years as a GOP political operative in Oregon before the Blade hired him, quit the Blade in May 2005 to take a job as a paid political consultant to Jean Schmidt, the Republican congressional candidate who in August narrowly defeated Democratic challenger (and Iraq war vet) Paul Hackett.
Of course, no one can say for sure whether Ohio voters would have cast their ballots differently if they had known about allegations that Bush’s campaign boss in Toledo was hijacking money from the state to keep the campaign humming. But native Ohioan John Robinson Block, publisher and editor in chief of the Blade, which endorsed Kerry, thinks it’s a strong possibility. Had the “Coingate” scandal blown up before the election, Block says, “most Republicans I know agree that Kerry would have won Ohio and won the presidency.” Rep. Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat whose district includes Toledo, feels the same. “I think it would have tipped the election,” she says.
Wenzel’s site describes him as, “an award-winning journalist who has wide experience in the fields of strategic and investigative writing, general research, public opinion research, journalism, media, and political and media consultation.”
Interpret that as you will.
After Wenzel left the Blade, he reportedly went to work for the GOP-leaning pollster Zogby, before starting his own polling organization.