Polls, polls and more polls

Polling, the political radar mechanism everyone loves to hate. It’s a fun thing to play with as a good pollster can make one poll come out any way they want it to by tweaking their questions.

The press as of this morning was trumpeting the 11 point Obama lead following the debate he supposedly won… only problem is the polls are all over the MAP right now and citing ONE poll as the beacon of defeat for McCain. I’m not buying that it’s over. This time 8 years ago, Al Gore was enjoying an 11 point lead over then Governor Bush… and look what he walked away with, a weight problem and an award winning propaganda film.

Rasmussen Tracking: Obama +5
Hotline/FD Tracking: Obama +6
Reuters/CSpan/Zogby Tracking: Obama +4
GW/Battleground Tracking: Obama +3
Gallup Tracking: Obama +11
NBC News/Wall St. Jrnl: Obama +6
CBS News: Obama +3
CNN: Obama +8
Ipsos/McClatchy: Obama +7
Democracy Corps (D): Obama +3

I never try to call any election unless it’s just ridiculously obvious… Zogby recalled the Carter / Reagan race of 1980 where it seemed lost for Reagan in the polls until the Sunday before the election when support for Carter fell off.

Anything is possible folks… we have less than 30 days until this election is in the history books and to say that a candidate, who is averaging numbers right in line with or slightly outside the margin of error on many polls nation wide, “has it in the bag” is just wishful thinking. Stranger things have happened and history is proof.