The campaign of Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) on Friday didn’t dispute that he faces a very difficult race this November. But it did blast a Rasmussen Reports survey that had Bennet well behind former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton (R).

Craig Hughes, Bennet’s campaign manager, released a summary of an internal campaign poll, taken early this month by Harstad Strategic Research Inc., that had Norton at 43 percent and Bennet at 40 percent. That was at odds with Rasmussen’s survey, which had Norton ahead by 49 percent to 37 percent.

Hughes charged that Ramussen Reports “has long been identified as a partisan polling outfit whose survey results are consistently wrong, and always favor the Republican candidate.” (Rasmussen has defended the accuracy of his surveys and told Politico recently, “It’s the adage that if you don’t like the message, shoot the messenger.”)