Prometheus 6

Where’s the Landslide?
By DAVID BROOKS

Why isn’t Barack Obama doing better? Why, after all that has happened, does he have only a slim two- or three-point lead over John McCain, according to an average of the recent polls? Why is he basically tied with his opponent when his party is so far ahead?

Because running polls, parsing and reparsing statements, broadcasting every $500 YouTube video the McCain campaign makes extends the campaign. It gives guys like you something to talk and write about.

Because John McCain is worse than even Bob Dole was. They may have to draft Jack Kemp for VP again.

You guys have ads to sell, so you need articles to wrap around them. So you commission a poll, and write about it for a week like they're all the people in the world. And while people like me write about what you wrote about, another poll of a somewhat different demographic is taken.

And so it goes.