Eight-term Republican Joe Knollenberg has another tough race to deal with this year, as state lottery commissioner Gary Peters is raising money and airing network TV ads in an effort to oust him. Knollenberg doesn't have the nearly eight-to-one spending advantage he enjoyed in 2006, when he defeated his Democratic opponent by just 6 points.

The survey, conducted by Grove-Insight for the DCCC, polled 400 likely voters. While the poll was released today, it was taken more than a month ago, between 8/17-19. Knollenberg and Peters were tested.

General Election Matchup
Peters.............41
Knollenberg....37

The Peters campaign says it's had ads up on cable TV since August 25, three weeks longer than Knollenberg, and now has enough resources to begin airing ads on network. In the last FEC report on July 15, Peters had $1.1 million compared to Knollenberg's $1.9 million. "We have all the resources we need to be up on network TV," said Clark Pettig, spokesman for the Peters campaign. "Things are looking good."