Bill Clinton Takes On the Media

On the Democratic side, "About half (49 percent) of black Democratic primary voters said they planned to vote for Mr. Obama, while 34 percent said they backed Mrs. Clinton. Among white Democratic primary voters, 42 percent said they were supporting Mrs. Clinton, while 24 percent said they backed Mr. Obama."

In a WashPost/ABC poll, Hillary has a 42-37 lead over Obama, which is a big jump for him (he trailed by 27 on Nov. 1). For the GOP, McCain leads Huckabee 28-20, but Romney is at 19 and Rudy 15.

I agree that the media are addicted to polls, and that polls are sometimes wrong, but I don't see how this Arianna proposal helps America:

"Do we want our political debate dominated not by issues but by who is up and who is down, who is hot and who is not?

"No wonder politicians have become pathological people pleasers, addicted to the short-term buzz of a bump in the polls, who can't even get dressed in the morning without consulting the latest numbers.

"But we can't expect these polling junkies -- both in the media and those running for office -- to kick the habit on their own. We have to stage an intervention. And it's as easy as hanging up your phone. Response rates are already abysmally low -- often dropping below 25%. So if enough of us refuse to answer, the polling data will become so unrepresentative and unreliable even the media would have to admit it was useless."

But aside from the ephemeral horse-race stuff, isn't it useful to know what people think--or have a rough approximation of what they think--about Iraq, health care, immigration and so on? Hasn't Arianna cited polls showing, for instance, public disillusionment with the war when it suits her purpose?

Given our MTV attention spans, Bill Kristol has a notably succinct take on Thursday's GOP debate:

" Best exchange. Thompson-Huckabee. Thompson launched a powerful attack on Huckabee from the right. Huckabee responded with a strong defense of his record that would have appealed to less ideological voters. Both were high quality minutes-and-a-half.

" Most improved. Thompson. Woke up, smelled the coffee, and showed his stuff.

" Best in foreign policy. McCain. Very strong and eloquent on the surge.

" Failed to do what he had to do. Romney. He had to get some momentum in Michigan. But after McCain slapped him down in the first exchange, Romney was passive and not much of a presence.