Marathon Pundit: WVSen: Raese leads in another poll; GOP ad promotes keeping Manchin as governor

More good news for the GOP: A third straight poll shows John Raese leading Joe Manchin in the West Virginia US Senate race. This time it's Fox News:

Deep resistance to Obama's agenda has put a West Virginia Senate seat once thought to be safe territory for Democrats in serious jeopardy.

A new Fox News battleground state poll on the race for the seat held by the late Sen. Robert Byrd for 51 years shows Republican businessman John Raese with a 5-point lead over Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin among likely voters -- 48 percent to 43 percent.

In what may be the year’s clearest case of Obama’s downward pull on his party’s candidates, Manchin gets high marks from voters – 66 percent approved of his job performance and 65 percent had a positive view of him personally -- but they still prefer Raese.

The survey was conducted before new reports that the head of the state's Democratic Party, Manchin's former chief of staff and business partner Larry Puccio, is under scrutiny by federal investigators for state contracts obtained under Manchin.

Manchin's popularity, and Obama's unpopularity, play into this Raese ad produced by the National Republican Senatorial Committee: