Sunday, October 12, 2008

No spoilers!

Here's a thought:

Obama might actually be doing better than you think he is (maybe), not because the electoral college is an anachronism that distorts, rather than guarantees, voters intentions (although it's an easy argument to make), and not because the media are in the tank for the Republicans (although some parts of it are), but simply because it's not in the establishment media's economic self-interest to give away the ending too soon:

Of 17 states examined by the Washington Post, any state where poll numbers favored McCain (no matter how small the lead) was labeled "trending Republican," but every state in which Obama was ahead in the polls (no matter how large the lead) was labeled "battleground."

Whose leg does a state have to hump to get labeled "trending Democrat" around the Post, anyway?

The net result: Polling for an election that, three weeks out, is looking more and more like it could a rout for the Democrats is made to appear too close to call. Because a blowout would be bad for view/readership.

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