10.28.2004
Don't Ask Me (WashingtonPost.com)
As Fewer Cooperate on Polls, Criticism and Questions Mount
By Richard Morin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 28, 2004; Page C01
Three dozen protesters gathered outside the Minneapolis Star Tribune building a month ago. They glowered and pounded on the windows. They carried signs calling the newspaper the "Star and Sickle." They shouted "Liberal!" at staffers leaving the building.
A few days before the demonstration, Ron Eibensteiner, chairman of the state Republican Party, had demanded that the publisher fire Rob Daves, the paper's longtime pollster.
"Hey, hey, ho, ho, Rob Daves has got to go!" the pickets chanted.
A few days later, Eibensteiner amended that request: If you will not fire Daves, at least suspend the paper's 60-year-old Minnesota Poll until after the election.
Daves's offense: a poll the previous week suggested that Democrat John Kerry led President Bush by 9 percentage points in Minnesota while subsequent surveys by others suggested a tie or a narrower Kerry lead.
(More ... washingtonpost.com > Politics > Elections > 2004 Election > Don't Ask Me) ¶ 22:06
By Richard Morin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 28, 2004; Page C01
Three dozen protesters gathered outside the Minneapolis Star Tribune building a month ago. They glowered and pounded on the windows. They carried signs calling the newspaper the "Star and Sickle." They shouted "Liberal!" at staffers leaving the building.
A few days before the demonstration, Ron Eibensteiner, chairman of the state Republican Party, had demanded that the publisher fire Rob Daves, the paper's longtime pollster.
"Hey, hey, ho, ho, Rob Daves has got to go!" the pickets chanted.
A few days later, Eibensteiner amended that request: If you will not fire Daves, at least suspend the paper's 60-year-old Minnesota Poll until after the election.
Daves's offense: a poll the previous week suggested that Democrat John Kerry led President Bush by 9 percentage points in Minnesota while subsequent surveys by others suggested a tie or a narrower Kerry lead.
(More ... washingtonpost.com > Politics > Elections > 2004 Election > Don't Ask Me) ¶ 22:06
