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By JOHN GOOLRICK
It is said, and rightly so, that the only poll that counts in a political contest is the one taken on election day.
Yet conceding the validity of that view, Republican gubernatorial nominee George Allen may stand to benefit enormously from a recent series of polls that have shown him pulling just about dead even with his Democratic rival, Mary Sue Terry.
When polls showed Ms. Terry 23 points or so ahead of Allen following nominating conventions, it appeared the race might be over even before it began.
Indeed, a basic part of Ms. Terry’s strategy was to move, so far ahead in polling points and money by Labor Day that all but the most diehard Allen supporters would concede her the election. If that strategy had succeeded it would have meant cutting off Allen from sources of the kind of big money it takes to wage a successful campaign for governor.
But despite Ms. Terry’s efforts, including shelling out nearly a million dollars for expensive TV ads during the dog days of summer, a funny thing happened on her way to the Governor’s Mansion.
Instead of finding herself on Governor Street, she headed in the direction of Short Pump.
Now Allen, whose quest seemed Don Quixotic to many just a few months go, is set to capitalize on Ms. Terry’s faltering campaign that, seems to have been caused in equal measure by the unpopularity of President Clinton with state voters, the highly publicized intra-party
92.6%