Colored me shocked that a poll commissioned by the ultra-Republican, Crist-hating Sunshine State News has Republican Rick Scott leading Charlie Crist, 45% to 44%.

Conducted by Voter Survey Service, the poll also reveals the Republican holds an important 5 point lead over Crist among Floridians more likely to cast votes in the November election.

“This race, in my opinion, looks very locked in. In other words, it almost looks like a repeat of what we had in the summer of 2010,” said James Lee, president of Voter Survey Service.

These poll numbers are counter to boatloads of polling data making its way around Tallahassee, which showed Scott in “awful” shape. And those polls were taken before Fernandez-gate broke.

And, as Gray Rohrer of the Florida Current tweets, “Do we think +65 demo (Scotts only age group lead) will make up 40% of electorate?”

SSN should refrain from polling the gubernatorial race for the same reason SaintPetersBlog.com does: we’re perceived to be too hyperpartisan about this race and, therefore, when we release poll numbers they’re not just taken with a grain of salt, they’re laden with it.