Does CNN Deserve to Be Reelected? [View all]

[mfcorey1]

I need help, and I know I am not alone. Over the past few weeks, I have been living in parallel universes. And right about now, I am thinking of breaking up with CNN.

In one universe, I pored over the national and state polls at Real Clear Politics several times a day (okay, several time an hour) and followed Nate Silver's detailed analyses on his 538 blog. I saw President Obama's likelihood of winning increase substantially -- from the 60-something percent range to just over 90 percent. I focused on the battleground states, as did Silver, because of the decisive importance of obtaining 270 votes in the Electoral College.

In the other universe, I listened to CNN each night and read its offerings online. (I avoided Fox News and MSNBC because one does not reasonably go to them for objectivity). In the CNN universe, the national polls received the overwhelming majority of the emphasis, and CNN's experts portrayed the race as simply too close to call.

Presumably, if these pundits had had to bet $1 million on the outcome and were given even odds, they would have been indifferent about which presidential candidate to support.

What was going on here? Was Silver not as brilliant and careful as he appeared to be, but completely nuts? Were the state polls not telling me what they were telling me? Were they systematically biased in the president's favor? Was CNN departing the reality-based community?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/neil-s-siegel/does-cnn-deserve-to-be-re_b_2094364.html