There’s little public polling in Idaho. So far, the few publicly released polls have shown GOP Gov. Butch Otter far ahead of Democratic challenger A.J. Balukoff, like the CBS News/NYT/YouGov national online poll, which had Otter leading Balukoff 57 percent to 33 percent in its latest round, which ended Oct. 1. Idaho Statesman reporter Rocky Barker writes today that the Republican Governors Association’s decision to invest in a six-figure ad buy for attack ads against Balukoff suggests private polls were showing otherwise. “Now a new poll by a Democratic polling group released this week shows the closer race that the RGA actions suggested,” Barker writes; you can read his full post here.

The poll by PPP Polling, a North Carolina pollster with mainly Democratic clients including the Democratic Governors Association, shows Otter with 39 percent to Balukoff’s 35 percent. It was PPP’s first Idaho poll, and included a full range of questions, from the governor’s race to Broncos-or-Vandals question – the poll came out 49 percent Broncos, 19 percent Vandals, and 12 percent ISU Bengals. The full poll is online here.