(crossposted at CaliforniaMediaWatch.com)

It always happens this time of year. Newspapers and television reports get ahead of themselves. One, two maybe even three polls show one candidate or the other leading and they call the race all but complete. Count it, put it in the bag. No further analysis of the issues, the candidate’s backgrounds and qualifications, all of the difficult reporting is over.

Well, either by choice or ignorance what California media outlets fail to see is A. their responsibility is not to cover the horse race, but the issues and B. polls, surveys studies can all be manipulated, over sampled, under sampled and tinkered with so that the “correct” response is seen.
Just today, in the usually reliable San Francisco Chronicle we see a story titled “Governor’s lead widens in two polls Angelides camp says there’s still time for a turnaround.”

There are a lot of important issues in California, lets get our eye back on the ball.