KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A new KMBC 9 News-Kansas City Star poll showed Monday that the Emanuel Cleaver-Jeanne Patterson race for Congress is closer than many people expected.

The poll of 600 likely voters in the 5th District indicates that political rookie Patterson is within striking distance of Cleaver with less than two weeks to go in the campaign.

The poll shows Democrat Cleaver leading Republican Patterson 46 percent to 41 percent. Twelve percent of the people in the survey remained undecided.

The poll is not considered good news for the Cleaver campaign. A well-known politician, Cleaver entered the race a heavy favorite. He is running in what has been considered a safe Democratic district -- a Republican has not been elected from the 5th District of Missouri since the 1940s.

But, in the campaign, Patterson continued to raise some of the same ethical issues that hurt Cleaver in his summer primary, and Patterson has put almost $3 million of her own money into the race. The Cleaver campaign cannot come close to matching her dollar for dollar.

The survey also looked at two other races.

In Kansas, incumbent Democratic Rep. Dennis Moore leads his Republican challenger Kris Kobach 50 percent to 38 percent with 11 percent of the people in the survey undecided.

The double-digit lead for the three-term congressman is unusual. Moore won his last two general elections by just three points each time.

In northwest Missouri, another incumbent is also in good shape in Congressional District 6.

The survey shows two-term Republican incumbent Sam Graves leading his Democratic challenger Charlie Broomfield by 22 points, 52 percent to 30 percent with 12 percent undecided.