Poll: Democrats could have a shot in Georgia Senate race

Democrats could have a shot at Georgia's open Senate seat, according to a new poll from Democratic-affiliated Public Policy Polling.

Former Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.) and Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.) would both start out with a lead against at least some of the Republicans considering a race, according to the poll.

Cleland would lead Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) by one point. His lead expands to 3 points against Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), 5 points against Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) and 7 points against both Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) and former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel (R).

Barrow leads Gingrey and Handel by 1 points, ties against Broun, trails Price by 1 point and trails Kingston by 3 points in the poll.

Cleland has shown no interest in the seat, which he lost in 2002, while Barrow hasn't ruled out a bid. Broun is the only Republican who's officially announced a bid for the seat, though the other Republicans who were polled are also mulling bids.

The GOP primary field is unsettled at best at this point: no potential candidate pulls more than 15 percent support in a hypothetical match-up.

The automated poll of 602 voters and 366 likely GOP primary voters was conducted from Feb. 15-18 and has a margin of error of 4 percent for the overall poll and 5.1 percent for the GOP primary subset.

—This post was updated at 2:50 p.m.

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