Weigel

Three weeks ago, I pointed to a Siena poll in New York that showed GOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio losing some steam in the primary despite spending weeks campaigning against the "ground zero mosque." He'd slipped from a 41-point lead over his rival, businessman Carl Paladino, to a 33-point lead. The new poll:

Rick Lazio and Carl Paladino are locked in a virtual dead heat (Lazio leads 43-42 percent) for the Republican nomination for Governor.

Lazio hasn't stopped hammering the mosque -- go to his website and you can see a new video about it . Paladino's money is obviously helping him power into contention, but if the mosque was such an explosive political issue, wouldn't Lazio be getting a little traction?

Interestingly, the "Tea Party Movement" has a 66 percent favorable rating and 17 percent unfavorable rating among Republicans. That's far better than the numbers for any of its candidates.