THE PUBLIC EDITOR THE first true blizzard of the first public editor's first season began Sunday, Dec. 21. The lead headline on the front page of The Times declared, ''Strong Support Is Found for Ban on Gay Marriage." Reading the article over my morning coffee, I wondered why a single poll - The Times's own, co-sponsored by CBS - was itself considered news (at least one other released around the same time showed substantially different results). But for the next two weeks, rising drifts of e-mail provoked by the piece made me realize my attention belonged elsewhere. Most correspondents felt...