‘Attack of the Phony Polls’ roiling Illinois governor’s race

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - There’s an unusual debate raging today between the seven (count ‘em, seven) Republicans running for Illinois governor in the Feb. 2 state primaries. It goes something like this:

“I’m the front-runner!”

“No, I am!”

“You are not!”

“Am too!”

The question of who is the frontrunner is usually a fairly simple one to answer: You just look at the latest independent media poll. The problem here is that there hasn’t been a truly independent poll of this race since before Christmas. The wide field of candidates, combined with the narrowing budgets of mainstream media organizations, has tamped down what is usually a flurry of pre-election poll activity. Arguably the most recent comprehensive and reliable one was a Chicago Tribune poll in early-December.

That derth of independent polling has left the candidates themselves free to tout their own commissioned polls, then to argue about whose is correct. Thus Republican candidate Kirk Dillard’s campaign is crowing about an automated poll it recently commissioned, which shows Dillard leading the crowded field with 22.4 percent, with Andy McKenna and Jim Ryan at distant 13.5 and 10.3 percent, respectively.

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/political-fix/political-fix/2010/01/attack-of-the-phony-polls-roiling-illinois-governors-race/