Login HereI have [a] different name for what you described as “what it would be like to live in a well-functioning democracy full of concerned citizens who educate themselves instead of being led around like a bunch of idiotic sheep….” I’ve called it the “idea race,” as in who’s ahead in addressing the major issues that confront us as a nation and that will confront the next president?
Here’s what I wrote about it back in June. As far as I can tell it had zero effect; however the DLC did create an “ideas primary” blog, and that phrase made it into Time’s Swampland once.
This was my stab at a workable compromise with “who’s ahead?” The Idea Race— but with live rankings. Today ingenuity, leg work and good judgment are required to say who’s doing the best in meeting the test of presidential seriousness around the health care mess. (And who’s in second place.) Persistence is required to maintain and revise the grid as new information comes in….
In idea race coverage [you would] focus on what the candidates are doing, saying and suggesting about, say, poverty (rural and urban, domestic and global) regardless of whether they and their consultants plan to focus on it. Then you rank them 1-12 and explain how you did it in an FAQ. If the campaigns squawk there will be another ranking in a month. Keep improving the way you come up with the rankings and you got yourselves a little election-year franchise.
I still think the idea race could work as a pattern shifter for the mainstream press precisely because it is not a big departure but a marginal improvement in the old master narrative— an incremental fix, which may be all the legacy media can handle at the moment.
But the horse race goes on.
As I have said any number of times, going back to the original source material -- original writings, Congressional record, testimonial records, and such -- and comparing that record to both deeds and words is a great way to test the viability of political candidate rhetoric and mettle.
That the above clip from Charlie Savage stands out as a moment of media clarity for me from this year is telling of a lot of things, not the least of which why Charlie was so deserving of his reporting awards. The questions that Dan Froomkin has posed over and over again for media consideration are concise and substantive -- and, I fear, will not be asked in this age of surface and glossy political pageantry.
Jamison Foser covers some of this glossy veneer at Media Matters, and it isn't pretty. Even though substantive discussion is precisely what all of us need -- and what so many of us hunger for as we switch off our teevees and cast aside our papers in search of something more valuable -- we aren't getting it nearly enough.
It is up to all of us to raise the important questions at the various town halls and public venues, and I'd love to hear how that is going in Iowa, in New Hampshire and beyond. Who has a story they'd like to share?
Share This 
Spotlight
zed?
duo
Hiya Christy! How was your vacation?
I think that the media decided who would be in the race and who would win even before Hillary made her announcement. They don’t care about any of the important stuff.
While I don’t think it’s quite as simple as you put it, you’re on the right track. Look at the amount of media adulation we saw over a Fred Thompson campaign–a candidate who has actually faded into the background almost instantly despite the attention. The media don’t predetermine winners, but they do make a forthright effort to declare winners at every step of the way, and their purposes in doing so are certainly not compatible with the public interest in getting accurate and relevant information with which to make political decisions.
I watched this when I was lazing around on the sofa recovering from surgery. Again another reason why I needed to install an external outrage drive just to handle the scandal de jour
Ideas are HARD. HARD HARD WORK. A horse race is easy. Easy to report, easy to understand. Plus, horse races are exciting. They make good reality tv.
Unlike, you know, talking about boring policy and stuff.
What got me this week was the juxtaposition of the drug use blow-up between front runners while the world was meeting about global warming, and the US was standing in the way.
In NJ you would never know a presidential primary is approx 10 weeks away. It really bugs me that the focus is always on Iowa. No offense intended against Iowa. I would welcome the opportunity to have a say in who my party chooses as it’s candidate.
I have no story. But I do worry that the phrase ‘ideas primary’ has already been co-opted and corrupted. Hasn’t the Washington Post been running a series called the ‘ideas primary’ full of conventional media wisdom BS and tendentious self-serving crud? I think they ran a innumerate and dishonest piece on the bogus social security crisis under the heading of ‘ideas primary.’
But regardless of what phrase you want to use, you are right about the essence, if it could be done without being corrupted by media. I can’t believe how much time and print space is wasted on nonsense horse race nothingness.
One problem is that corporate media and the Russert types use the idea primary not to openly discuss ideas, but use it to foist their prejudices and agendas on public -simply package discussion of ideas in a conventional wisdom narrative or frame of their choosing and thn beat people over the head if they do not go along with their take. That is, they say you are weasling because you are not accepting a loaded framing of what is an acceptable new idea
Not sure if I expressed that very clearly. Concerning social security, the plan has been to state a bogus crisis as a fact, and then the only acceptable new idea is some bogus solution to the frame of a bogus crisis. Same thing happens with foreign policy.
I agree that a focus on policy issues would be a dramatic improvement over the horserace garbaggio. What I am even more interested in than specific policy positions, however, is detailed analysis of the decision-making process each candidate would implement as President.
If a non-insane process is implemented, non-insane policy outcomes usually result. In the absence of non-insane process, non-insane policy outcomes are very unlikely, regardless of stated policy positions.
Millineryman — Have you seen much of the candidates in NJ as yet this year? I get the feeling that there is so much concentration on the front end primary/caucus states that there isn’t a lot of action going on in other states. (I know that’s been true for WV.) But I’m wondering if the activity is just happening under the media radar and we just aren’t seeing it? Any observations from you or other readers in other states would be great to know…
The problem with the idea race is that for most the candidates, if not all, the most important idea they embrace is: me.
FITZ !!! (for Starbuck.. ).. I know I’m way late..
for the new folks here. These greetings were intended as an hommage to posters. then became a shout-out to a popular current hero, Pat Fitzgerald at the height of his Plame outing investigation.
When that lost traction, Zed was used because it represents the first (as in zero). This became a competitive exercise in this community, because if you were the first to post a comment in this VERY popular forum you had to be either extremely lucky or a very avid reader
who refreshed the home page frequently
How about a truthiness meter/race too?
Arizona’s Prez primary date is Feb 5th but only occasional flyby from the candidates. The only signs I see are Ron Paul which all over the place (the Freeway blogger would be proud).
Obama was here in October and spoke at a rally at ASU. My youngest son went and came away with this statement…. “he was just like all the other politicians.” Clinton & Edwards have not been here this year. Edwards worked very hard in AZ for our minimum wage ballot measure that did pass.
Oh… for got the fund raiser dinner with Carville as the guest speaker, does that count?
Google news search
Retrieved two incidental items each when subtituting “New Jersey” and “Virginia” for “Maryland”.
Obviously primaries are not multitasking events.
I hadn’t heard about those? Where did you get yours? Are they on sale for Christmas?
This was a driving force for Nevada to be a primary state. No one paid attention to li’l ole Nevada, Mississippi of the West as they like to call themselves in the rightwing corners. My observation is that having the primaries in Nevada has done little to move the state to engage in substantive issues. We do in small groups but in numbers, that is a different picture. I observed the dear Democrats in Nevada are very absorbed with “famous people” intrigue.
PS: Many volunteers don’t like using the Internet to do activist work. They are scared. I’ve not heard Democrats critize Harry Reid. When they do, it is in private conversation, very quiet.
If you are looking for the “meat” on the “Top Three” Dems..This is a good place to start. eriposte is pro Hillary but the amount of info and research is impressive. I just read that Obama scrubbed his web site of anti-war stuff after things looked to be going well in Iraq and Bush was popular. Sort of like the “present” votes on abortion and the missed vote on Kyl-Lieberman..seems to be a recurring pattern of behavior.
link
Clinton has been in Tucson for private fundraisers. Without checking the news archives, I think she’s been here twice. But ordinary people weren’t invited.
Got an e-mail this morning from Conyers that leads to Dodd’s site to sign a petition to support the filibuster. Good idea.
I want to know what happened to all those whiny repugs who ran around saying you can’t take lists of who owns guns because the commies would know?
What happened to all those who talked about lack of freedom to travel in the old USSR?
What happened to all those who watched in outrage TeeVee specials about the KGB being informed about the activities of their neighbors?
Where are they?
linkie.
Makes it easy to write Biden, Clinton, and Obama calling on them to live up to their promise to support Dodd’s filibuster. Firepups need to do this if they haven’t already.
This is an excellent article indeed. eRiposte deserves respect for work done in the past on a variety of issues, all well-researched. This stood out for me:
I am sure that most of us believe that HRC is too identified with corporate interests, an issue I think is very important.
Another important issue is that Obama seems to be working awfully close to the repub talking points. I’m with Jane on this: NO.
Fundraising and getting up close to candidates is another form of discrimination and catering to the “haves”. The poorer people just can’t afford to go so volunteers are expected to walk the neighborhoods as surrogates for the candidates. There is serious pressure on making out hefty checks when a candidate appears.
Occasionally, their is a sort-of-general gathering to meet candidates. They are far too few. Mostly, their appearance is fundraising inspired.
I spend part of my time in California and part in Nevada. I vote in Nevada (they need me most). Volunteers are harding working dedicated people. There is some wonderful talent to draw upon. I respect them greatly. Nevada is playing catch-up while California has far more informed savvy voters.
I’ve held idea sessions at my home in Nevada and given the opportunity, people were glad to be engaged. Put thirty Democrats in a room to discuss an issue and you have thirty different solutions on how to deal with the issue. It’s what endears me to them. When it comes to translating those ideas and solutions into action, not much happens. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
OT..
That is not going anywhere because the Bush Crime family and Carlyle Group are up to their eye-balls in this.
talkleft
The WA caucus is Feb. 9th, right after Super Tuesday, so there haven’t been too many visits from candidates. Obama was in Seattle this week for a quick fundraiser. Edwards visited Oregon about a month (or longer) ago to speak with local unions.
Something tells me that while Clinton and Obama have their little slapfest, Edwards is just quietly building support. He may do alot better than the polls show right now. Ok, that’s what I want to happen.
I am also disheartened and disillusioned that our Dem Prez candidates are more politicians than statesmen.. Like Dodd.. At least Bill Clinton acted like a statesman removed from the clutches of Corporate greed. I think the candidate that best represents at least my progressive view is Edwards. When Hillary stated she would retain the obscene Bush tax cut for the mega rich, she lost me entirely…
BTW Obama DOES do a good imitation of a progressive candidate, especially when he came here to Kentucky and refered to our senior senator as “Bitch McConnell”.. I loved it.. He has a populist and relaxed delivery style and can reach out to the common voter, something few other candidates have..
An idea race? Can’t Rosen just say that he would like to see more content in election campaigns? It would be clearer and avoid the same gimmickry which he is criticizing.
Democrats aren’t in a rut, they are in a sink hole.
Or a cave in.
I think Rethugs decided who would be our frontrunner even before Hillary announced. I think they decided immediately following the 2004 election, and I’ll guarantee that their motives had nothing to do with important stuff like what stands she would take on this or that.
This was probably covered earlier, but in case it wasn’t - the Des Moines Register has endorsed Clinton and McCain.
At this point, she really needed this. It will help her.
For McCain, it won’t do much. Most Republicans won’t even line their
bird cages with the Register.
I think that you are correct, but what is that belief based on?. With Hillary, who takes PAC money, there seems to be little or no correlation with her voting record. The “Progressive Punch” lists her #! among Senators for voting against corporate “welfare”. She gets m oney from Big Pharma and HMO’s but voted and spoke against Medicare part D..One of the most lobbied bills in history and a huge give away to Big Pharma..and she is pushing for price negotiations for Medicare drugs..something Pharma hate with a passion.
My point is that belief are better based on “data” rather than the “common wisdom”.
And once again, there was Al Gore on point and calling the spade, the spade. And it seems he had some success! I heard last night that our US delegates to the global warming conference in Bali had changed their tune! What do you know about that?!! (That is not necessarily a rhetorical question; I’d really like to know.)
By the way, does anybody know what stores are selling a nice three foot fiber optic tree?
This probably goes on a lot but is it common practice for an organization like the Register to host a debate (in fact the last Democratic one) and then make an endorsement? It would seem to bring up questions of conflict of interest or at least favoritism.
Discussing substantial ideas may not please a mixed crowd. That is saved for special interest groups. When the bottom line of a political race is to win, what happens to issues? They are watered down. What is the purpose of a political race? Ask any serious candidate and he/she will tell you - to win.
I wish for moral fortitude and ethics in a response, but that just isn’t the purpose. It may pop up like an occasional aside but the primary focus is on winning. Ask any good politician, How do you win?” and, they will tell you, “By any means possible.”
Obama pretends to be progressive. I think he is the worst of the D candidates. I am going to caucus for Edwards. I think for all Hillary’s PAC big money she will be alot more progressive than Obama. Obama’s mentor was JoeLie.
Hugh — It does go on a lot — and traditionally, the debates are put on by the news room folks, and the endorsements come from the editorial side of the paper. If any of our reporting readers care to comment on that (especially the former reporter types who can speak more freely about how the process may or may not work in practice), I’d love to hear thoughts.
Here is another example: Sources of funds..Hillary the corporate hack vs Obama the outsider.
Link
The spoiler is they are the same. Another example of evaluating from data..Common blog wisdom may or may not be any better than MSM wisdom.
My understanding is they agreed to kick the can forward to 2009.
ColleenaDailyLurker — I’ve been reading about and hearing from a lot of Iowa readers that even where Edwards isn’t their first choice, he’s almost universally a second choice for a lot of folks. Which makes for some interesting caucus calculus given that a number of folks have candidates who may not be likely to get the 15 percent threshold of votes on the first round of tally…and some wholesale switching to Edwards as the second choice by a lot of these folks.
What are you hearing on the ground on that? Has there been a lot of discussion about this — or not? What I’ve heard is that Edwards’ ground game in Iowa is built on a fairly solid foundation, with a lot of work put into selecting captains in each precinct that are experienced and well-thought-of in the community. Would love to know what folks who are actually there are hearing on all of this, because the dynamics on all the polls is so within the margin of error that nothing would surprise me at this point.
“All of Hillary’s PAC big money” For her Senate career, Hillary has raised $152 million as of 09/07. Of the $152 million, what percentage came from PAC’s?
NO! I should say, not anymore. I was a big Carville fan at one time (that flamethrower thing, and all) but then I heard a story about him giving some info to his “lovely” wife about Kerry’s intentions I think it was, and that was it for me. Now he has no credibility with me anymore at all, period. So I say, emphatically NO.
Just a small reminder to everyone: paying for servers and such isn’t cheap. Please take some time to click thru advertisers on our site if you like the work we do. Your click thrus help us pay to keep the servers humming along. Thank you!
Unfortunately, you don’t get much done in politics without making a lot of noise!
OT…Hmmmmm…….Is Fox dumping Rudy?
William “The Bloody” Ring The Death Knell On Giuliani’s Campaign
C&L
The answer..2%
ref:
OT - Has anyone received Christmas cards from Southern relatives? I’m carrying around the one I received. The American flag replaces the Confederate flag. The KKK insignia, the cross (burning or not) is transposed into a gold cross. The image - A red, white, blue strips and stars Christmas bow with the gold cross in the center. Greetings: Blessed Christmas! The Evangelists are putting these out for members to buy.
It’s a free country so whatever turns you on. But if I sent a card depicting evolution, they would want it outlawed.
You people. You give, give, give and then you have the temerity to ask us to do something easy.
What gall.
OT: A very good AP article on congressional politics.
Okay, to be serious– I completely agree that the media needs to take some responsibility here, but so does everyone who consumes that media. As long as we’re willing to support their gloss over substance style, they will continue to do it, and until we put real pressure on them, there’s no reason for them to change.
I think this might go for political candidates, too– if we tell our candidates, loud and clear, that we don’t care about “style” stories and that if they participate in them, they’ll lose our support, it might help (a little).
I should have pointed out that the information provided by eRiposte corrects an impression I had. The top google link for Hillary Clinton bankruptcy bill is this. It surely helps explain why she is thought to be a corporatist.
Hmmm. Does Kristol know something we don’t? Is another ugly, stinky shoe gonna drop about Rudy’s past behavior or friends? It seems odd they’d give up on him after Faux worked so hard to ignore the previous scandals.
TheOtherWA — Likely, Kristol read the latest Rasmussan numbers for Florida, where Rudy has lost a double digit lead and is now getting his ass waxed. Nothing like a finger int he wind among political pals, I always say…
The only phone poll that I respond to is the Nielson ratings
1. Oberman
2. TDS
3. Bill Moyers
4. Maher
6. Cspan
7. PBS
8. Cobert Report
Then I tell them that Faux Noise is blocked on my parental controls
Blue Jersey news of their state’s unofficial caucus earlier this month.
Sorry for the delay in responding Christy.
As far as I can see there was one appearance by Hillary when Gov. Corzine endorsed her and that was it. Another challenge for me is that I live in souther NJ, which by all political considerations doesn’t exist. The power base for the democrats is in northern NJ, and there are larger concentration of voters up there. When resources and time are tight, you have to go for the maxium bang for the buck.
Regarding the DMR endorsement, Chris Cillizza buries the lede in the 22nd graf (my bold):
Okay, it’s time to make the annual far too large batch of chocolate walnut fudge. So I’ll be in and out a little bit while I try not to scorch the batch while simultaneously trying to prevent Mr. ReddHedd from sneaking tastes before it has cooled properly.
U.S. reversal under pressure leads to climate deal
I’m even later!
Thanks for the explanation, Mojo. It’d the most lucid one yet.
From what you said, it appears that it has outlived it’s usefulness, if all that is being said is the phonetic word for Z (in my day as a ham radio operator, it was Zebra), then what’s the point except to promote one-upsmanship of sorts?
My solution:
I read backwards, that is, I go to the last entry and read up. It has the additional benefit that certain posts are noted and responded to, leading me to those posts as ones perhaps to take a closer read, with respect to the topic posted in the header. If the thread is meaty, and they seem to be regularly, I can grit my teeth and go back to very early posts.
Hey folks, it’s my opinion, and my attitude. In no way do I wish to be seen as denigrating the import of that which matters here. I don’t even pay attention to whomever is numero uno with zed or whatever, so not to bias my opion on that person’s contribution later on.
Thanks to all like Christy, like Jane, Parachutec (love that handle!)and the extraordinary contributions from those who really know how things work.
I would disagree. I saw it as mostly a recycling of the conventional wisdom.
It wasn’t just the liberal base but 60-70% of Americans. The criticism of the base is not that Congressional Democrats didn’t win on Iraq and other issues (we can count as well as they can) it is that they did not fight. As for the Trent Lott quote, how ironic and divorced from reality is that given all the cave ins by Democrats?
Thanks for this Teddy. That’s interesting that Codey spoke for Edwards.
Not really true. A number of them have ideas.
In local races it’s common procedure to have candidates interview before their editorial board, or have a public debate and then decide who they will endorse. They usually have other materials as well, but the interview/debate system is widely used.
And here is no PAC money Edwards, from eriposte:
link
I am not trying to trash Edwards, (I hope he has a blow out in Iowa) but in the big picture there seems to be little difference between Hillary, Edwards or Dodd. Obama is a different story, the more I hear and see the less I like. Under that smooth outsider exterior is a nasty opportunist.
Kirk Murphy had a good post on this last night. The US did not reverse its course at all. Basically, everyone agreed to another 2 years of negotiations with the understanding that in something over a year there will be a new and likely Democratic President who will change course.
Thanks, I’ll have to go back and read what Kirk wrote.
Well blow me over with a feather. I figured Steve would be straight Hillary, and the wife was surprised he didn’t just wait to see which way the dust settled before making any endorsement.
Do you mean that this is some sort of hologram card? You look at it one way and it shows a burning cross…and then you look from a different angle it’s a gold cross? This is just really bizarre…and could easily be misinterpreted by just about anyone.
I didn’t know Rudy was doing that badly in Florida. It makes sense now that Kristol would dismiss him.
Gee, Rudy will have to settle for being a multimillionaire, watching Judy stroll around the house in her tiara, since she won’t be First Lady and get to wear it at official events. Boo hoo.
More on Hillary’s need for and use of her Primary Surrogate, this time to woo the DMR:
The Haaretz ”Israel Factor” is like this. FDL readers will be pleased to know that Obama is bringing up the rear. This kind of feature would depend on whether the readers trust the panel who judges the policy papers or not.
Daily Kos is certainly not immune to focusing on personalities and meta-messages.
Christy Welcome back and thanks for reviving Rosen’s idea of compiling some sort of weekly “issues list”. Here are three sites that I know of that do something like this, at least on specific issues…if not a bit selectively.
http://www.usglobalengagement.org/ The Candidates On Foreign Policy
http://www.ontheissues.org/default.htm A Synthesis of Quotes and Votes
http://politics.nytimes.com/el.....index.html NYTimes Candidates On The Issues
Thanks much for the update! It gives my attitude a little boost. I understand that the government wasn’t too happy with the US delegations capitulation, but such is life! Hope it does some good.
What I am saying is that the old KKK crude symbols are being used in a more acceptable way with the traditional stars and stripes and the cross all wrapped up into one. Not so subtle message is Christians are Patriots, Patriots are Christians. The last message I received from them was a comparison of military sacrifice in Iraq with Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. The written message said: Both died for me.
They all know a noose, burning cross and Confederate flag doesn’t send the message they want to get across because of the negative image. So, the stars and stripes now belong to them. It is a Christian symbol. This is their major focus in an election right up there with outlawing abortion from contraceptives.
In 2006, blogs did an excellent job compared to the MSM. A presidential candidate is expected to be a standard-bearer in a way that an individual Congressional candidate is not. (It was even possible to be indifferent to the Lieberman-Lamont race and concentrate on races such as Webb’s and Tester’s with actual sleazy Republicans involved.) Each of the candidates can understand what is important to the netroots–leaving Iraq, a sane energy policy, no retroactive immunity, etc.–and say that they stand for these things. In this case people can either squabble about nuance or about their whole biography.
Yep. Trent above is giving himself and his pals way too much credit. But divorced from reality, is that the same as knowing how the game will end before it’s even played? This is Trent just continuing the care and feeding of the Republicans best theme - not only are the Democrats wrong about everything, they don’t even know how the game is played. This is their tactic, to so completely dispirit Democrats and the “center” on the mere possibility that Democrats have any leadership ability at all. We play right into their hands.
The defining victory for Republicans, and this is because the Democrats simply have no fight in them, is to “Declare Victory”, and head off. Harry hangs his head and mutters, “Curses, foiled again.” Its that simple, IMO. The Democrats are , and pardon the sports metaphor, playing on the Republicans field, by the Republicans rules, and, without pads.
Christy, because of the nature of many ads on many sites, I installed Google’s Ad blocker, which, for this site, has blocked 8 ads. Not that they were bad or intrusive, but Ad Blocker doesn’t discriminate.
I would be open to direct contributions to a fund to keep this place running.
Where do I send a check?
It’s amazing what a room full of cat calls can do when the press is watching and the cameras are on. Guess the room didn’t go silent and listen when the American representative spoke.
Starbuck — In the right-hand column, there is a button that says “support this site” that has all the info on all the options. HTH!
Here!
Do you seriously imagine that Hillary and her corporatist backers are not smart enough to ‘position’ her as to be able to run from the left if the right collapses as it had.
Large corporations have internal groups who plan for decades down the road. Nothing that she voted on has the potential to equal what she could for her ‘friends’ from the White House. As Christy has pointed out you need to look at the totality of a candidates positions and you do this by seeing what she/he has said and to who as well as how she/he voted, where her/his money comes from.
All of it.
Shorter form: Greenwashing can be done with votes.
Extremely tires OrangeLand argument.
It ignores the fact that people can change and grow. Edwards has done so. You cannot point to anything like what your refer to in his policy statements and speeches from the recent past.
This is not true of Obama/Hillary who are on the record in the last six months with numerous anti-progressive statements meant to dog-whistle their corporate backers.
Through this one in the trash.
It won’t fly.
Don’t agree?
Check the Des Moines Register endorsement.
I think you have a good idea.
Did you mean it to track senators & representatives as well? Possibly down the the state and local levels?
It could be some form of a wiki, were issues are identified, allocated to the appropriate government body (city, county, state, federal), and tracked.
Or is this too much? Do we track actions by the WTO, WHO, FCC, Federal Reserve and other “only slightlly accountable” governmental bodies?
Clinton, Obama and Edwards all have very good organizations in Iowa. Most insiders think Edwards has the strongest organization for turning out caucus participants. This is a much different job than turning out primary voters. To participate in a caucus you have to show up at set time in the evening and stay for 2 to 3 hours.
After all the speechifying, debating, glad-handing, mailings, advertising, organizing, deal making, celebrity appearances, analysis and endorsements, my guess is one of the biggest factors in this is going to be the damn Iowa winter weather. If I were Edwards, I would pray for bad weather.
I read somewhere that the non-responsiveness factor is as high as 70% for those who are on the pollsters call list. IOW even after repeated calls these folks aren’t responding. I suspect that this isn’t because they don’t intend to participate…it’s because they have been polled once and are tired of being repeatedly polled (in Iowa and New Hampshire). Thus one is likely to get those who are real manic advocates willing to answer all the polls, plus an occasional oddball misanthrope who will say they support a contrarian position.
In any case I don’t think that those who opt out vs. those who respond to every survey are at all random.
Second, there is the Cell Phone Factor which despite the special pleading from the pollsters that this has no impact…I say phooey! If you actually did find it relevant you would cover it up since it would utterly destroy your system. BTW if it makes no difference then why are these firms trying to develop methods of making cellphone surveys at some great expense?
PS Can’t figure out why the link above doesn’t work~ coming out with odd prefixes and suffixes with double “http%22″