Article snippet: The Republican and Democratic candidates running to represent southwest Pennsylvania's 18th Congressional District are in a virtual dead-heat with less than a month to go before the highly anticipated March special election and with President Donald Trump's aura looming over the race. A new poll conducted by Monmouth University found Republican Rick Saccone garnering the support of 49 percent of respondents, compared to 46 percent for Democrat Conor Lamb, well within the 5.5 percent margin of error in the poll of likely voters. The survey could serve as a shot of momentum for Lamb, whose campaign faces the daunting task of flipping the deep-red district that favored Trump over Hillary Clinton by nearly 20 points in 2016 and where former GOP Rep. Tim Murphy ran unopposed in his last two races. The seat, which came open when Murphy resigned in October amid a sex scandal, has since been eyed by some ambitious Democrats who believe that momentum from the party's electoral victories in 2017 — including Sen. Doug Jones' improbable triumph in Alabama's special Senate election in December — would carry into 2018 and eventually the November midterm elections. The Monmouth poll, released Thursday, drew upon what it described as a "surge model" featuring turnout "similar to voting patterns seen in other special elections over the past year." In additional models that weighted responses based on turnout lower than the 2014 midterms and based on turnout at p... Link to the full article to read more