It's true about the polls. I will say this, however, some of the polls citing Rudy's number one front runner status have been conducted by conservative organizations or his support has been observed by conservative columnists of long-standing.
I can't account for the straw polls but will mention that in 1999, if I remember correctly, this web site was pulling for Alan Keyes and we all know how that turned out.
A better indicator of the mood of the country aren't little enclaves of people where there is group think going on but a more broad sampling of voters.
That's a straw man argument because all the people that were here in 1999 are not the same people that are here now. I've noticed that a good many of the Rudy supporters were here in 1999, so what does that prove?