Different strokes: Two very different candidates — Dingfelder and Murman — are vying for Hillsborough’s District 1 seat

Sandy Murman can't suppress her exuberance.

We’re sitting across from each other at Zudar’s Deli off of Platt Street in Tampa, discussing a poll she recently commissioned that shows her with a stunning 20-point lead over her Democratic Party challenger, former Tampa City Councilman John Dingfelder, in the race for Hillsborough County Commission in District 1.

"We’re getting some great feedback from the field,” she offers, without appearing too giddy. “You know, I’m not totally reliant on polls, but it does give you an indication of where you’re headed.”

If it’s accurate, of course. Anecdotally, some observers CL spoke with expressed incredulity at the survey, conducted by a group called the Voter Survey Service, a Pennsylvania polling service.

On the record, Dingfelder downplayed the poll (trotting out that tried and true cliché that the only poll that matters is on Election Day), but it would seem to be a sufficient wake-up call, making his desire to win the support of those in the district — which encompasses Town ‘N Country through South Tampa down to southern Hillsborough — all the more intense.

This article appears in Oct 7-13, 2010.