In Last Minute Push for Cash, Dem CFO Candidate Loranne Ausley Says She is Close to Jeff Atwater in Polls

Former Rep. Loranne Ausley, the Democratic nominee for CFO, sent out an e-mail on Tuesday, trying to round up some donors in the last days before the deadline on Friday for campaign financial reports. In it, Ausley wrote that her internal polling found her just behind Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, the Republican nominee.

This has been a very productive quarter for my campaign for CFO. Over the last few months I have traveled throughout the state, my campaign has contacted thousands of new voters, and we have received more endorsements than any of the candidates for CFO, wrote Ausley. Without a primary I am the Democratic nominee. My recent poll showed that this race is tight with only three points separating me from Jeff Atwater and I have a path to victory.

While there has not been much polling in the CFO race, a Mason Dixon poll released in May had Atwater out in front with 33 percent and Ausley at 26 percent. Atwater is also widely assumed to hold a substantial advantage in fund-raising. Ausley will be making a last-minute push to rake in some dollars before the deadline with a fund-raising event in Miami on Tuesday night and one in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday night.