Ted, Teresa, and I also talk Proposition 8, California’s ban on gay marriage, with Ted’s report from a star-studded fundraiser in Hollywood. What’s the deal with the “No On No. 8″ ads never showing any gay people? How did Ellen suddenly become a political player? What’s the nuanced position of the Obama/Biden ticket on this issue and is it political bravery or cowardliness? We also discuss patriotism and Michelle Bachmann’s “anti-America” comments as well as the bi-partisan viewing habits of America.

“The exit polls are conducted by the National Election Pool (NEP), a consortium of ABC News, Associated Press, CBS News, CNN, Fox News and NBC News formed in 2003. 

In theory, exit polls should match election results. But for all the care that goes into conducting accurate exit polls, errant results aren’t completely uncommon. Respected polling analyst Mark Blumenthal found that during the Democratic primaries this year, preliminary exit polls overestimated Obama’s strength in 18 of 20 states, by an average error of 7 percentage points, based on leaked early results. 

The reason? Obama’s supporters were younger, better educated and often more enthusiastic than Hillary Clinton’s, meaning they were more likely to participate in exit polls.”

“Then, suddenly, the journalists who wouldn’t lift a finger to investigate Barack Obama’s longtime relationships with Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright sprang into action rifling through citizen Joe Wurzelbacher’s tax records. Politico.com reported breathlessly: “Samuel J. Wurzelbacher has a lien placed against him to the tune of $1,182.92. The lien is dated from January of ‘07.” Press outlets probed his divorce records. The local plumbers’ union, which has endorsed Obama, claimed he didn’t do their required apprenticeship work and didn’t have a license to work outside his local township.”

“Every president faces new claims to equality in our evolving nation. The next will be no exception. McCain does not share our view of the fundamental rights of women in this society; he has occasionally been right and brave on those of immigrants and perhaps, if elected, will be again. With respect to equality, Obama is more committed and more consistent.” 

This fired me up. To think of the great risk Obama takes every time he walks on a stage somewhere to speak, and that some Republicans (particularly the ones at the top of their ticket) are not outspoken against their lunatic supporters is absolutely horrifying.

In today’s Editor & Publisher I discuss the panel I was on at Northwestern Friday (thx Ellen Shearer for the invite!): 

“Given the inevitable fragmentation of the MSM market and the inundation of “breaking news” in our daily lives, the need for a reliable filter has never been more prevalent. In most social networks – online and offline – there is typically a handful of influencers who lead their peers in suggesting valuable news bits and facilitating activism. For better or worse, these individuals have become our default editors, aggregators and points of distribution.” Read more here.

Katie Couric’s questions were beach balls compared to the fight Sarah Palin is going to have Thursday with Joe Biden. I hope and pray that he doesn’t ease up on her just because she’s a newbie and a woman. After the gauntlet she threw down at the RNC, it’s hilarious to see the McCain camp proclaiming that anyone would have trouble being on the other side of a microphone. It isn’t when you know what the f@#$ you’re talking about.

“Not only do the reporters have little interaction with the candidates, but increasingly they are having little impact on the broad campaign narratives and daily story lines that supply most voters with their impressions of the candidates.

That’s more often taking place in cable studios or on Web sites far removed from the ceaseless grind of the press bubble — in which reporters schlump on and off the plane, in and out of buses and gymnasiums-turned-filing centers, several times a day, dozens of times a week.

… So reporters gripe among themselves, wondering why their news organizations pay tens of thousands of dollars to be shut out.

Officials of both campaigns said they had become exasperated with what they consider the petty controversies or insider minutia that is the obsession of the on-the-plane reporters, and didn’t want to take a chance of creating a story that would override the story they were trying to tell with their staged, scripted events.

… The campaigns’ thinking: They get their message out to local voters, and the questions are rarely hard-hitting. And the interviews are more likely to be about issues or local color, rather than the political conflict that consumes national reporters.

This spotty access is one of the key ways that bloggers and new-media outlets have undermined the ability of traditional organizations to set and drive the campaign narrative.”

I’m not sure that use of the word “undermined” is appropriate here with respect to the blogosphere, nor would it necessarily be a negative given the major failures of MSM to uncover the truth is such important instances as invading Iraq.

“Lipstick on pigs, sex ed for pre-K, earmarks gone wild — this presidential campaign is descending to a bridge to nowhere. We cannot let that happen again. This country is up against it: The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Gilded Age inequality, Iraq and Afghanistan, catastrophic climate change, the lawless presidency and more. The next president will face stark challenges that cannot be ignored. We need a debate worthy of a great nation in trouble. And the only way that will happen is if citizens insist on it.”