COPYRIGHT MIA T 2004 |
Posted on 12/09/2004 2:21:14 AM PST by kattracks
Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - Following an Election Day prediction that Democratic candidate John Kerry would win more than 300 electoral votes and the presidency, one of America's most well known polling firms continued the job Wednesday of explaining its flawed projection.
Shawnta Watson Walcott, communications director for Zogby International, joined a group of liberal Democrats at a faux congressional hearing focused on whether fraud influenced the Nov. 2 outcome.
"... it has become increasingly clear that this election has produced unprecedented levels of suspicion regarding its outcome, and we join this panel discussion in an attempt to find a resolution to these issues," said Walcott, who represented the firm's president and long time political pollster John Zogby at the forum sponsored by Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee.
On Election Day, Zogby predicted that Kerry would win 311 electoral votes. For much of that afternoon, he also rated the state of Virginia as too close to call. Not only did President Bush end up winning Virginia by 9 percentage points over Kerry, he won 286 electoral votes, over 3.3 million popular vote more than Kerry and, of course, re-election.
But with a Rayburn House Office Building meeting room as the backdrop, Judiciary Committee Democrats, liberal special interest groups and individuals like Rainbow PUSH Coalition founder Jesse Jackson Wednesday alleged that the election had been marred by fraud and malfunctioning voting machines.
Walcott told the group assembled that Zogby International had questions of its own pertaining to the election.
"We have received thousands of letters and phone calls regarding irregularities - many of which center on early exit polling results that were uncharacteristically inaccurate in several battleground states; questionable practices at polling stations that may have resulted in votes not being counted accurately; and in Ohio, as with other swing states, the automated Diebolt machines were particularly disturbing because they offered no voting receipts" she said.
"It is with this intention that we recommend that a blue ribbon bipartisan panel be developed to investigate the allegations discussed here today ..." Walcott added.
Later, another noted political observer questioned the wisdom of Walcott attending the partisan event at the Rayburn Office Building.
Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said Zogby polling may have crossed a line in its call for an investigation of the election results.
"It's highly unusual for a pollster who claims not to be partisan to issue such a call [for an investigation]," Sabato told CNSNews.com .
When asked whether he thought Zogby might be trying to spread the idea of voter fraud to explain his mistaken pre-election prediction, Sabato responded, "I can't comment on [Zogby's] motives. I have no idea. But I can tell you this. This whole [election fraud] hullabaloo is malarky."
In explaining her presence at Wednesday's meeting, Walcott said she was offering "recommendations that may help restore the dignity and public confidence in the democratic process -- a process that is clearly worth protecting."
But Sabato said such criticism of the election process were without merit.
"There is absolutely no chance that the election was stolen, and there is absolutely no chance that the election results will be reversed in Ohio -- regardless of how many investigations are done," Sabato added.
Democrats have centered most of their allegations of election mismanagement or wrongdoing on Ohio, even though President Bush beat Kerry in the state by more than 135,000 votes.
Sabato also ridiculed the assertion by Zogby International that its exit polls were "uncharacteristically inaccurate" in 2004. "They have been characteristically inaccurate in 2000, 2002, 2004 -- wrong three times in a row and highly inaccurate," Sabato said.
"So talking about cynicism, the cynicism is being generated by these wild claims. Was it a perfect election? No. Has there ever been a perfect election in the history of the world? No," Sabato concluded.
See Related Article:
Jesse Jackson: 2004 Election 'Ain't Over' (Dec. 8, 2004)
E-mail a news tip to Marc Morano.
Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.
COPYRIGHT MIA T 2004 |
Me too.
Those of us that questioned the agenda of the polsters were vindicated toward the end. They either came out with an accurate sampling in their final poll, or they walked off the cliff like good 'ol Zogby here did. Gallop also has a little egg on their face for giving 2% to Kerry without just cause.
A few were accurate all along. RASS remained consistent for months, and they now have a strong reputation to attract further customers.
I'm thrilled Zogby has been discredited. The only polls he seems to be hired for now concern which Party is Santa Claus and which party is Scrooge.
Well, don't leave us hanging here! We wanna hear all about the veracity quotients of the spics, the wops, the chinks, the darkies, the....
(And yes, that's sarcasm. Let's cut the racist bulls---.)
-Dan
Lil' Abner, along with Walt Kelly's Pogo, were two of the cleverest comic strips ever created and Capp and Kelly two of the most successful satirists in American letters. George S. Kaufman once opined that "Satire is what closes on Saturday night", but Capp and Kelly managed to slip in their digs while keeping readers mightily entertained (and paying the bills) for decades. They both got tired late in the game (as do we all), but in their prime, they were a joy to read.
That's a bit over the top.....
You could say that for a lot of ethnicities....
zogby joins big losers of nov 2--dan rather, kofi annan, jacques chirac, mark geragos, and satan
Hey, Zog -- wishing it doesn't make it so!
GASP!!! You don't really think so, do you?!?!?
From her profile on Zogby's web site:
She has served as political director for the Rainbow/Push Coalition ...
I'm shocked I tell ya, shocked.
Glad you enjoyed that blast from the past!
Zogby is still digging a hole...
Now I do remember Glenn Beck on more than one occasion saying (with tongue firmly planted in cheek) that the day for Republicans to vote was Nov. 2 and Democrats were supposed to vote on Nov. 3, AND, considering the political awareness level of some of his contestants on Moron Trivia, I wouldn't doubt at all that some dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks people actually DID think that Dems were supposed to vote on Wednesday.
I'm sure that Glenn figured anyone who was that ignorant shouldn't be voting. I think that anyone who is that ignorant shouldn't be allowed to walk the streets without their parole officer.
>>Zogby was hoping that their "predictions" of a Kerry landslide would be a self-fulfilling prophesy.<<
Actually, he factored in fraud that could not or did not occur. That's why he was so correct in 2000 and 1996. I think he was convinced that fraud would carry the day in both Florida and Ohio, and was simply wrong about 2 or 3 close states that could have pushed Kerry over 300. I'm not saying he didn't desire those results, but I think it was a little more objectively driven.
Of course, he can't now admit that his models are based on RAT voter fraud and why he's so in tune with it. But I think that is the explanation.
"Arabs lie. It is natural for them. When they are caught, they lie some more."
???
You may have a point about Zogby, but a post like that just gives ammunition to the people who visit/lurk this site and call FReepers "racist," etc., because of a few off-the-wall posts.
I'd be a little more specific.
Zogby needs to be admittted to a Psyco ward.
He ws wrong, just plain wrong and his credibility as a polster has been hit hard.
Ops4 God Bless America!
I hope post 115 is specific enough.
Ops4 God BLess America!
Nope, it's not specific. What's your point?
Do I think Zogby is a P.O.S.? Yup.
Do I despise Islamic Facists? Yup.
Do I think most Muslims hate America? Yup.
Do I think Islam is a "religion of peace?" Nope.
Am I a hard-core conservative? Yup.
Do I think calling ALL Arabs liars borders on "racist" and does not good in this otherwise sane forum? Yup.
I did not mention anything about Arab's or Muslims, onlt the psyco babble coming form Zogby and his lef wing counterparts.
The point is clear, forget attacking people about heritage and call them on thier own actions.
You seem to be stuck on a point that has no bearing on this article. So drop it and carry on.
Ops4 God BLess America!
You brought it up to me, man.
God Bless America.
The whole election was a dirty Republican trick to make Zogby look bad.
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