Dan O'Connor (Photo: danoconnor2012.com)

Dan O'Connor, a candidate in the Democratic primary against veteran incumbent Nydia Velázquez, sent out a press release earlier today touting a new poll being completed on his behalf. “The poll reached out to over 15,000 voters within the district on a variety of political topics," the release read.

The Politicker reached out to Mr. O'Connor's campaign to find out what the actual poll results were.  His campaign manager, Christina Tobin, declined to provide any specifics, but called the results "favorable."

"The polling gave us results that showed the district is favorable for what Dan O'Connor is talking about," she replied. "That voters want a Democrat who will stand up for them, and not a career politician indebted to special interests."

Typically, polls with relatively unknown candidates involve fairly lopsided results against established incumbents with high recognition.

According to Mr. Connor's well-designed campaign website, the candidate works at Green Energy in Manhattan and already has several staffers on board with his campaign.

Mr. O'Connor is hoping to make an electoral impact by campaigning heavily for the district's sizable Chinese community. Reason magazine once profiled the Mandarin-fluent Mr. O'Connor under the headline "Can a White Libertarian Man Represent NY's Chinatown?"

The district is strongly Latino, and, under the current boundaries, under 20% Chinese.

Councilman Erik Dilan is also said to be planning a run.