[img_assist|nid=2215|title=Congressional candidate Jill Derby|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=200|height=227]DENVER – Jill Derby suggested in an interview today that a new poll showing her narrowly trailing U.S. Rep. Dean Heller (R-Carson City) is evidence that her campaign is gaining traction.

“I think the fact that we haven’t really started up yet with media, etc. and we are as close as we are is very significant,” she said.

Derby was referring to a new survey released last week showing her trailing the freshman Heller by just 5 percent. A survey released earlier on in the summer showed Derby trailing by a 14-percent margin.

Derby, who is here this week to attend the Democratic National Convention, indicated that her campaign would be coming up with media as soon as September.

The former state Democratic Party chair is running against Heller in a rematch of their 2006 race. Heller won that race by 5 percent. In a largely conservative district, Heller is widely seen as the favorite in the contest.

But Derby, pointing to rising Democratic registration levels in the state after the Silver State’s early presidential caucus, said the momentum was shifting in her direction.

“The landscape has shifted in Nevada, and out of the early caucus opportunity the registration shift the registration shift has been really quite remarkable,” she said.

Another significant advantage she has this time around, Derby said, was her ability to point to a record Heller had compiled in Washington. She said her opponent’s votes on energy issues, for example, showed him to be “in lockstep with Bush.”

“Congressman Heller is more of the same and his record 92 percent of the time is with the Bush agenda stands on its own and it’s not what people want, we know that.”