New St. Louis Post-Dispatch poll shows incumbent Sen. Jim Talent neck and neck with Democrat Claire McCaskill:

The latest Research 2000 poll for the Post-Dispatch and KMOV-TV (Channel 4) found that Talent, R-Mo., has chipped away the edge held by his Democratic rival, state Auditor Claire McCaskill.

With a little more than two months left before Election Day, the two are in a statistical dead heat.

The Maryland-based firm's latest poll of 800 likely voters, conducted Monday through Thursday, found that 47 percent backed McCaskill and 46 percent supported Talent. Two percent supported Libertarian Frank Gilmour, while the remaining 5 percent were undecided.

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The firm's last poll, in June, had shown McCaskill with a lead of 6 percentage points.

Talent closed the gap with a six-week TV ad blitz in which he outspent McCaskill by a ratio of 10:1.