ChuckTodd: Hillary's polling #s are typical for candidate with no campaign against her. Not unusual.

[nonobadfish]

Chuck Todd stated yesterday on Hardball that the argument that both Clintons are making about her higher general election polls and individual state polls are not valid arguments.

He said higher poll numbers like these are a normal occurence for a candidate that has no one campaigning against her. Obama nor McCain has campaigned against her over the last few weeks, so her poll numbers go up. He says it happens often at the end of a race like this.

I can't find a link to his words, but it was in the first segment with Roger Simon (May 27th Hardball). He also said something of the same thing in his First Read writings about the primary wins she has had over the last few weeks....Obama did not campaign against her, which made things easier for her.

I think it's a very important point and explains perfectly why she is ahead in a few of the polls (not every single one of them even though she declared that she was this morning).

Did anyone else see this or have a link?

[speedoo]

1. Makes sense to me.

Chuck Todd, as usual, speaks the truth.

[Brundle_Fly]

13. TODD CAN KISS MY

Wife, when we visit NYC next month. He summed up this polling event perfectly.

[berni_mccoy]

2. It needs to be said over and over again. A General Election comparison is pointless and invalid

at this point in the race. Let's choose a party nominee first (Obama) and then compare the Democratic nominee against McCain.

[anonymous171]

3. I agree.

:kick:

[AtomicKitten]

4. Excellent point.

Obama has either spoken glowingly about her or ignored her since Pennsylvania.

[RooferDem]

5. I'm glad you posted this.

It honestly had not occured to me, although it probably should have.

[nonobadfish]

6. I hadn't thought of it either. When Chuck said it, it made perfect sense.

[ErinBerin84]

7. I'm beginning to be strangely attracted to Chuck Todd.

Oh god, did I really just say that aloud? And I'm glad he mentioned this, because that's exactly what I've been thinking. She's been running virtually unopposed.

[tridim]

16. Todd is a smart dude

IMO he's the smartest one at MSNBC, even smarter than KO and Rachel.

He's going to become a star in the next 4 years.

[ErinBerin84]

17. I loved during the last primary when he was presenting

the delegate/popular vote math, and kept saying "Sorry, this is a lot of math. This is a lot of math." Like, he totally knows that he's way smarter than the other fools he works with. I wonder if he's a democrat or a Republican. Someone here once posted that he's a republican...which makes me sad. Oh well, at least he comes off neutral enough (for now) that I will probably never know.

[nonobadfish]

29. He worked for Dem Tom Harkin's presidential campaign and his wife is a Democratic consultant in VA

who worked on Jim Webb's Senate campaign in 2006.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/12/AR2008051200679.html

From the article:
While in college, Todd worked for Iowa Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin's 1992 presidential campaign and later started part time at Hotline. He left school six credits short of graduation. "It's not the proudest thing on my résumé," he says.

Hotline, with its exhaustive summaries of stories, polls and punditry, seemed like a perfect fit. "From the very first day," says founder Doug Bailey, "it was obvious this was a guy whose instincts were brilliant. And his work ethic was extraordinary." Bailey recalls telling Todd at an Orioles game a year later: "You're going to run this publication one day, so pay attention."

By 2001, Todd had indeed become editor in chief. A year later he married Kristian Denny, a Democratic consultant who served as communications director for Jim Webb's successful 2006 Senate campaign in Virginia. (Todd says he disclosed the connection on the air and tried to avoid discussing Virginia politics.)

[ErinBerin84]

31. thanks!

[lisa58]

8. I saw it, and you're right, he said it wasn't unusual at all.

[Bensthename]

9. Alot of us have been thinking the same thing. Makes sense. Todd knows his shizzle.

[NC_Nurse]

10. Too bad it won't stop all the pointless threads here...

Sigh.

[nonobadfish]

11. Just got a reply back from Chuck Todd by email and he said it's true.

This is what his email answered to my question of examples of this happening before:

"Mccain and bradley in 2000 and edwards in 04 regularly polled slightly better... Will take some time to get exact data points...
--------------------------
Chuck Todd
NBC News"

[Muttocracy]

14. that's really nice that he replied! nt

[nonobadfish]

19. He's the best there is, imo

[ErinBerin84]

15. I want Chuck Todd to email me!

[DerekJ]

22. Awesome.

[wiggs]

12. Great point. In fact, Obama has been praising her. nt

[FrenchieCat]

18. Neither Obama or the GOP have attacked Hillary for a long, long time......

while she goes around dogging out Obama each and every chance she gets.

Of course it is true.

Add to that, many Hillary supporters, when polled, state that they would vote McCain over Obama.... On the other hand, Obama supporters, when asked, reveal support for Hillary over McCain (like good Democrats).

The end results skew polls to show Hillary performing well against McCain.

[Austinitis]

20. "Typical" How? How many campaigns like this has he looked at?

Did he give other examples? Or is this just more of MSNBC being in the tank for Obama...

[nonobadfish]

21. See post above. But to save you time: Bradley, McCain, Edwards 2004.

[nonobadfish]

23. Seriously, anyone who questions this, think about it: McCain is attacking Obama daily. Hillary not

being attacked by anyone. It doesn't take much poll watching through this past year to figure out that the poll numbers are affected by what the respondents hear each day. OF COURSE Hillary is doing better in some of the polls!

[Tarheel_Dem]

24. Obama's being attacked from within and without. Hillary, Bill & Geraldine

are on the teevee daily, in conjunctioin with the McCain campaign, trashing Obama mightily. Nobody's laying a glove on Hillary. What I think is most telling is that KO didn't even mention her name once last night. I think smart Dems are moving on, he did an excellent segment on McCain's lobbyist ties. I think this is a good strategy for Obama as well. Just don't mention her name, and when asked a question about her, give the standard "no comment".

[DerekJ]

25. kick

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

26. Excellent find !

K & R

[NJSecularist]

27. Hillary has performed better than Obama in these swing states from Day One

Obama spokesman Chuck Todd is wrong.

[DerekJ]

28. Hillary was outperforming Obama in every state on day one. Yet Obama won. See the problem here?!

[SemiCharmedQuark]

30. I *love* Chuck Todd.

So does my husband. He is my favorite part of news.