Wednesday's Poll: One individual obviously skewed the results of a poll that asked: "Should House Speaker Lawerence Denney call for an ethics probe into Rep. Phil Hart’s tax problems?" A Hart supporter, pseudonymed "idahocolt," (as I cautioned yesterday) circulated an e-mail calling for sympathizers to sway the poll. Which caused an early evening swing. But one individual, I believe, was responsible for skewing the poll after 9. From 8:42 p.m. to midnight Wednesday, the no's outdistanced the yesses 142-24. At 8:42 p.m., the tally was 156 in support of an ethics investigation (53%), 119 against (46%). At 5:58 (when I left work), the tally was 173 of 226 in favor of an ethics probe (77%), 46 against (20%). Final tally: 299 of 514 (58%) against an ethics probe, 211 (41%) in favor. Seems the closest count to reality (including troops stirred up by "idahocolt") is the 8:42 p.m. total of 53% for, 46% against.
Cop Punch: 163 of 263 respondents (62%) say that a Seattle police officer was justified in punching a female jaywalker who attacked him. 86 of 263 (33%) say he was not. 14 of 263 (5%) were undecided. Poll results + discussion here. And: video of attack here.
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.
