Anna C. Little, Republican candidate for Congress in the 6th District, is closing in rapidly on her opponent, Democratic incumbent Frank Pallone, in a race that has now become a tossup, according to an internal poll.

In a press release issued August 23, Little cited a poll conducted for the campaign by National Research, Inc., showing Pallone at 40 percent of the vote and Little at 34 percent. That would mean that 26 percent of respondents surveyed were undecided or declined to answer. To be within single digits of the lead with a double-digit undecided population a scant ten weeks before the election is definitely an enviable place to be. Against an opponent having 100 percent name recognition (as Little points out) and a history of having won 11 elections in a district that the last three Democratic candidates for President carried by roughly 3:2 margins, this indicates that the trend, and the anti-incumbent sentiment that pervades the country, has broken in Little's favor.

Little credits her ground game with bringing her within this striking distance. By her own count, "Anna's Army" has knocked on 10,000 doors since the ground campaign began five weeks ago. Her successful recruitment of an old hand at congressional campaigning, namely Leigh-Ann Bellew, who ran against Pallone in 2006, as the chair of her campaign might also have something to do with her success. But Bellew and Little both suggest as well that Pallone has himself largely to blame for not having 50 percent of the vote locked in with the election 10 weeks away.

"The more people learn about Anna Little, the more they like her and can see her as the right alternative to the incumbent," Bellew said. "The voters already know about Frank Pallone and becoming increasingly uncomfortable with his out-of-touch voting record. He’s been in Washington too long and has become a bit too cozy with Nancy Pelosi."

Little added: "The arrogance of Frank Pallone and Nancy Pelosi aside, New Jersey voters have sent and are sending an unmistakable message to Democratic incumbents: stop spending money we don’t have and bankrupting our children. It seems that neither Governor Christie’s election nor the unsustainable path on which the Democrats in Congress have put America matter to entrenched incumbents like Frank Pallone and Nancy Pelosi. As Frank Pallone said at his town hall last year, he just knows better what’s good for us."

Little's ground troops will visit the town of Manalapan this Saturday.

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