Tim Griffin (Tim Griffin for Congress)
Former interim U.S. Attorney Tim Griffin (R) in Arkansas, who played a key role in the 2006 U.S. Attorney firings scandal, has a double-digit lead over Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.) in the race for Snyder’s Little Rock-based House seat, according to a poll released today by SurveyUSA/Firedoglake. T
In a head-to-head match up, respondents chose Griffin over Snyder, 56 to 39 percent, with 5 percent undecided. The poll was conducted by phone from Jan. 11 to Jan. 13.
A poll taken in November showed the race essentially tied, with Snyder edging out Griffin by a margin of 44 to 43 perecent.
Griffin, a long-time Republican party operative and former assistant to Karl Rove in the George W. Bush White House, was installed as the U.S. Attorney in Little Rock in December 2006 under a controversial provision of the Patriot Act that circumvented Senate confirmation. It later emerged in congressional testimony that Griffin’s predecessor, Bud Cummins, had been ousted in an apparent move to make way for Griffin. Griffin stepped down as U.S. Attorney in June 2007.
Cummins was one of nine U.S. Attorneys fired by the Bush administration in a process that led to an uproar over whether politics had been improperly injected into law enforcement. The controversy led then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign.
While the new poll only accounted for a Griffin-Snyder match-up, Griffin first will have to win the Republican primary. His rivals for the nomination include health care project manager David Meeks and restaurant owner Scott Wallace.
