For those who do not watch NBC’s The West Wing, here is an amusing bit of dialogue from last night’s episode. In the West Wing’s parallel political universe, we are in the midst of the presidential primaries. On the eve of Super Tuesday, presidential campaign manager Josh Lyman (played by Bradley Whitford), refuses to answer questions from the press about "internal" tracking surveys. A reporter asks, "why not?"
"’Cause we’re here to talk about issues. It’s a presidential campaign, it’s not a statistics convention."
And that would be a bad thing?
Seriously, for those who find the notion of a statistics/opinion poll convention appealing, let me recommend the one coming up in May sponsored by the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR). And for those who can’t afford the travel expenses, MP will be providing full on-scene coverage.
And yes, it’s true, I must admit a personal weakness: MP is a huge West Wing fan. And as a former "road warrior" for Gary Hart’s 1984 campaign, one who was told of leaked exit polls showing Hart would shock the world with a stunning New Hampshire upset but was then forbidden by his boss to share the news with an office full of volunteers, last night’s episode gave me chills. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, an election night can really feel like the fictional one shown last night. .
Anyway…back to regular programming . . .
[And a big hat tip to CP of the AAPOR listserv for the West Wing quote].
“And as a former “road warrior” for Gary Hart’s 1984 campaign, one who was told of leaked exit polls showing Hart would shock the world with a stunning New Hampshire upset…”
A good axe throw always pays dividends. (Goddamn superdelegates…)
So, perhaps we can breakdown the ’08 candidates like this:
Hillary = Mondale
Edwards = Hart
Bayh = Glenn
Feingold = Jackson