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Response to Numbers: Pollsters Must Be 'Smoking Crack'
October 30, 2008 4:57 PM
ABC News On Campus reporter Andrew Egan blogs:
To blame bad news on someone else's incompetence takes gall. Blaming it on alleged drug use? That takes real chutzpah.
And what started as a disagreement over poll numbers has taken the Louisiana Senate race to an inspired new low.
The state seems to know what it wants; McCain is polling a double-digit lead over Obama and, according to a survey released Monday by Southeastern Louisiana University, Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu was polling 19 points over Republican rival John N. Kennedy.
The Kennedy campaign's response probably wasn't its best moment. Campaign spokesman Lenny Alcivar told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that the people who conducted the poll were "smoking crack" and that "no one believes it."
The Landrieu campaign immediately pounced on the gaffe-tacular moment.
"Just so I'm not mistaken, the Kennedy campaign is accusing students at SLU of being crackheads? Is that right?" campaign spokesman Brian Welsh asked rhetorically in a statement released Wednesday.
SLU spokesman Rena Abadie said the poll is an opportunity for students to get real-world polling experience. He added that the university covers the state's major elections such as those for governor and the Senate.
"It's a public service," Abadie said. "This poll has been around for years. It's guided by a political science Ph.D. and conducted without any partisan bias."
Abadie said that undergraduate students had polled respondents over the phone while being monitored by the project's leader, Dr. Kurt Corbello, an associate professor of political science at SLU.
Corbello said through the university spokesman that he didn't care to comment on Alcivar's criticism.
Other polls confirm Landrieu's double-digit lead, though not as enthusiastically. Rasmussen Reports released a poll last week showing that Landrieu was 10 points ahead of Kennedy. In fact, the race is seen as such a rout for Landrieu that Rasmussen is the only major polling agency even bothering to conduct polls in Louisiana.
It's already been a tough campaign for Kennedy. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the official GOP group charged with electing senators, has been yo-yoing financing in and out of the state for month, one minute thinking the state can be won, the next -- well, the candidate's campaign accuses a research team of using drugs.
October 30, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (15)
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Lots of people smoke crack. So? People who have smoked crack will vote. So? There is nothing wrong with a crack smoking pollster. Stop the hate. No, stop smoking crack.
Posted by: Kitty | Oct 30, 2008 5:21:50 PM
I am sure the McCain campaign believes all pollsters nationwide are smoking crack.
That is the only way they can explain their low poll numbers.
Posted by: Steve_NJ | Oct 30, 2008 5:31:40 PM
This idiot is a perfect example of why the republicans are losing across America, they can't find members of the GOP that aren't jackasses.
Posted by: JR | Oct 30, 2008 5:56:09 PM
John McCain is smoking Plumber's Crack.
LOLOL!!!!
Posted by: Ed from MA | Oct 30, 2008 6:03:11 PM
OK, this is by far the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! IF so it is because the crack(palin) you guys let McCain chose was not worth the spoon used to smoke it....so we decided to go a better dealer.
Posted by: Bobbi | Oct 30, 2008 6:12:16 PM
I am sure the McCain campaign believes all pollsters nationwide are smoking crack.
That is the only way they can explain their low poll numbers.
Posted by: Steve_NJ | Oct 30, 2008 5:31:40 PM.............................
Yes and in a Few Days McCain will say
all American Voters must be Smoking Crack.......Tic Tok ... times almost up
Posted by: Anita Yova | Oct 30, 2008 6:16:31 PM
Obama=LOSER of all times.
Posted by: Anna | Oct 30, 2008 6:18:20 PM
There are far too many polls, some of which may be done scientifically, while most are probably not. A poll can be "swung" in favor of whoever has paid for it.
WE should ignore all this garbage and wait for the only REAL poll: next Tuesday.
Posted by: Rhys | Oct 30, 2008 6:20:57 PM
FYI...voter fraud already happening in Texas....A friend of ours went and tried to vote today....She was told that she had already voted...She said no I have not already voted...Voting Officals pulled up her voting number and said that she had voted on Sunday and voted for Obama...The lady said BS, I did NOT vote and I am voting for McCain....I want to see who sign my name on the voting register....And the rest of the story will come tomorrow....I knew that Slick Willy Obama & all his shaddy friends would go this far to make sure he will win the election....
Posted by: 55Mariposa | Oct 30, 2008 6:22:41 PM
Maybe they were just smoking weed???
P.S. some of you Joe the Six Packers, could use a little reprise yourselves; you are taking this WAAAAY too seriously.
We have all, at one time or another, lived under, worked under, or lived with, a situation that was not our ideal circumstances. What are you going to do? What CAN you do?
YOUR campaign got you all riled up with nowhere to go...
It's not that serious. It's politics.
Posted by: WeAreAllTired | Oct 30, 2008 6:47:25 PM
55Mariposa,
I am not sure whether you have ever voted before, but they do not record your electoral choices next to your name on the voting rolls.
Posted by: not an idiot | Oct 30, 2008 11:03:16 PM
Speaking of polls and "crack", read what the late Gary Webb said about the fraudulent 2004 election.
Posted by: gabriel | Oct 31, 2008 7:47:55 AM
Obama=LOSER of all times.
Posted by: Anna
*******************************
When you wake up November 5th he will be the winner!
Posted by: Julie | Oct 31, 2008 6:46:09 PM
55Mariposa,................................. What exactly do you think would be the point of a case of vote fraud in Texas for Obama would be.
You'd better save the fabricated stories for other Republicons. You clearly aren't too good at it.
Posted by: Truth Matters | Nov 1, 2008 9:28:43 PM
This tool is awesome: "Your Money" -- McCain vs. Obama.
Fascinating stuff. Compares your taxes, markets, inflation, college, and retirement under each candidate.
Voyant:
Posted by: Ken Ashwood | Nov 3, 2008 11:14:25 AM
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