More superbly accurate exit polling, from Italy this time. All day long the headlines have been saying that Prime Minister Berlusconi was trailing his challenger Prodi.
Only now it looks like Berlusconi may just have pulled out a win. An excruciatingly narrow win, but a win. Pollsters are now calling results too close to call (even though the numbers appear to be against Prodi right now).
Fair warning to anyone attempting to exit poll. Blue Crab Boulevard strongly encourages lying to pollsters no matter what the question. Or telling said pollster where to go and what to do when they get there. Why? Because we don't think government should be run by opinion polls. Stupidest damn way to run a country ever.
UPDATE: OK, I thought Bloomberg was a pretty tightly run operation. Someone over there needs to get cracking on some decent editing. This report is either completely confused or willfully stupid. Headline: Berlusconi Overtakes Prodi in Italian Election. First few paragraphs support that and say that poll tabulations show a 0.3 percentage point lead. LAST paragraph says:
Official counting of the votes continues. With a third of the votes for the Chamber counted, that tally gives Prodi a lead over Berlusconi with 52 percent to 47 percent.
Would someone please get off your butt and straighten the report out?
UPDATE: AP is reporting that Prodi is declaring victory, but Berlusconi is not conceding yet. Challenges are expected, this isn't over just yet.
Just a thought.
It’s too soon the make the call, but I’ve got an eerie feeling we just might have seen this movie before. Many principle events seem to mirror the shenanigans that went on when GWB defeated Al Gore. It would take the cake if Berlusconi receives a congratulatory call from Prodi before all the liberal judges get involved.
I think there’s a leftist tilt to Italian media, too. How much polling today is actually wishful thinking disguised as an opinion poll?