New Numbers in Rhode Island

And they aren't all that hot. Rasmussen (which a friend of mine described as "in the same septic tankas Lake [Tester's polling firm] - only floating a little higher") released them to members only today but someone released them at the Providence Journal. They show Republican incumbent Lincoln Chafee losing to Democratic nominee Sheldon Whitehouse 41%-46%, and Republican insurgent Steve Laffey getting destroyed by Whitehouse 29%-57%. In June, the Chafee-Whitehouse numbers were 42%-44%; a month before, Chafee was up by 3%. All this time, Laffey has been unequivocally being swept aside by Whitehouse. Rasmussen here. The July poll questioned 500 likely voters, margin of error +/-4.5%.

Assuming Chafee pulls past Laffey in the primary, he'll receive a small bounce - but with only 5% separating the two candidates, every little bit helps. I don't think debates will be to Chafee's benefit, but then again I'm not sure they'll help Whitehouse either (for that matter I don't think I've heard either campaign even mention the idea).