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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huckleberries Online

Tater: Add Salt Grain To Smith Poll

Out-of-Stater Tater (re: poll that shows Ward leading Labrador 2-to1): Take this poll with a healthy dose of salt, not just a grain. Greg Smith does this frequently during election years. He commissions a poll out of his own pocket, shops the results around, hoping media outlets will bite. The resulting news story generates publicity for “Greg Smith & Associates,” which he then uses to drum up some more business. Greg has to do this because he doesn't get much repeat business. An example of why - you all remember Matt Salisbury? Nice guy. He had Greg do a poll for the '08 primary between himself and Bill Sali. Four days before the primary, Salisbury's campaign staff was running to and fro telling everyone “We just got poll results that show us trailing Sali by only 3 points!” Salisbury lost by 20.

Question: How much stock do you put in political polls?



D.F. Oliveria
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.

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