LePage

Any hopes by the LePage administration and Republicans that they would receive fair treatment from the media must have been pretty much dashed by what they have read and heard since the election. Much of the reporting and opining has taken on a harshly critical tone.

Among the critics has been Steve Mistler, a political reporter for the Lewiston Sun Journal. He also blogs and a recent effort entitled "Team LePage's Teachable Moment" begins this way:

"Nuggets from the notebook while waiting for Gov.-elect Paul LePage to unveil his secret plan for health care …"

Political polling, the experts say, is little more than a snapshot of voters' feelings at any particular time. It takes several polls showing similar numbers -- or a definite trend over weeks -- to point to a believable result.

It also requires a professional team with proven methodology to achieve a high level of accuracy. The voter segment sampled has to be exactly right. The questions have to be right. It can't be done by amateurs no matter how talented..

One candidate is 61, the other is 70. The first, who is male, suggests the second, who is female, ought to be put out to pasture because of her age. To me, as a certified member of the same geezer demographic, this was colorful by-play between a couple of senior citizens with guts enough to run for governor.

Nine of the 11 candidates for governor in last week's primary election had bad days. But none of them had a worse day then the folks who were paid to predict the election outcome. The professional pollsters got it all wrong.

At least three polls attempted tried to predict the outcome of the gubernatorial race. All failed. One of those polls tried to pick the winner of the tax referendum. It was hugely wrong on that one too.

Why do the media continue to encourage these efforts when they fail so often?