2010: White Only 4% Behind Perry?

Democrat Bill White runs stronger against Republican Rick Perry than either of Perry's Republican primary rivals, according to a new Daily Kos/Research 2000 Texas Poll.

That survey — done for the Daily Kos blog, a liberal haven on the Internet — has Perry beating White by four percentage points in a head-to-head matchup. That 46%-42% result is within the margin of error, and, we should say, is a closer race than we've seen in other polls, including our own University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

The incumbent governor would win a runoff against Kay Bailey Hutchison 43%-33%; and against Debra Medina 44%-23%, the new survey says. A Hutchison-Medina contest would go to Hutchison, they found, 38%-30%. They didn't test Bill White against Farouk Shami or any of his five other rivals for the Democratic nomination. But in the Republican three-way, they have Perry with 42%, Hutchison with 30%, and Medina with 17%.

Details: The telephone survey of 600 "likely voters" was conducted February 8-10 and has a margin of error of +/- 4 percent.