Kelly up 13 points in new poll

Republican Mike Kelly has opened up a 13-point lead in his bid to unseat Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper (D-3), according to a new poll.

The survey, commissioned by The Hill and conducted by polling firm Penn Schoen Berland, found Kelly garnering 49 percent of the vote in the northwest Pennsylvania district, compared to 36 percent for Dahlkemper. Fifteen percent of likely voters are undecided—just enough to give Dahlkemper a road to victory one month before Election Day.

The poll was one of a dozen commissioned by the Capitol newspaper in battleground races, and it contained just the latest signs of trouble for Dahlkemper, a freshman buffeted by a poor political climate and her vote in favor of the health care overhaul. Other internal polling has found Kelly holding a lead, but the latest results show him to be in a formidable position.

Almost 60 percent of respondents said that health care law should be repealed.

The survey of 401 likely voters, conducted Sept. 25-27, had a margin of error of 4.9 percent.