Culver, O'Brien, and Mauro take leads in new Register poll

The Des Moines Register has a new poll that shows Chet Culver with a 7 point lead over Jim Nussle at 46% to 39%. From the Register article...

While the vast majority of likely voters remain loyal to their party's gubernatorial candidate, independents now prefer Culver over Nussle, 43 percent to 33 percent. In the mid-September Iowa Poll, Nussle had a 2-point edge over Culver among independents.

And here is a look at how the candidates are doing in each congressional district...

Culver runs stronger than Nussle in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd congressional districts, which cover most of eastern Iowa. They run nearly neck-and-neck in the 4th District.

Nussle has the advantage in western Iowa's 5th District, a vote-rich area for Republicans that could give him a big boost if he's able to turn out the vote in that part of the state.

The Register also did polling on the Sec. of Agriculture race and the race for Sec. of State. Denise O'Brien (D) leads Bill Northey (R) 40% to 26% with 32% undecided. For Sec of State, Democrat Michael Mauro leads Washington DC resident Mary Ann Hanusa 32% to 25% with 41% undecided. This is good for the Democrats in these races, but there is a lot of undecideds out there that could sway things.