So, I’m just getting back from the Algonquin Salon (an open mic TheWife sings at a lot) tonight and I pull up CNN.com to check for any breaking news. The screencap attached to this post is what I saw. The headline links to an article (here: http://www.cnn.com/…index.html ) that talks about the "Bradley Effect" and the "Wilder Effect."

That’s so stupid–you can’t have two "Effects" for the same result! Silly CNN!

Regardless, my concern is a bit more serious than that. The idea behind this (these) effect(s) is that exit polls found that both Tom Bradley and Douglas Wilder doing better than they did in the actual elections. Bradley lost in his bid for the governorship of California while the polls said he would win and Wilder won but by a hair’s width, not the double-digit lead his exit polls gave him.

Now, to me this kind of thing already sounds familiar. However, the excuse for the exit polls being wrong now is racism–people too embarrassed to admit they are racist lie and say they did vote for the black guy.

Back in 2000 and in 2004 the excuse was that the exit polls were just wrong.

See, in both the 2000 and 2004 elections, the assumption was that Gore would win certain states. John Zogby was on the Daily Show before the election saying John Kerry would win.

We know how both elections turned out.

I’m worried CNN.com has just delivered the excuse for a McCain win.

I’m worried we’ll see exit polls that give Obama a lead, possibly even a healthy one, but that we’ll see McCain miraculously pull ahead in certain "battleground states".

When the question is asked by the press and the public: "Why were the exit polls so off from the election itself?" the answer will be racism.

No one will bother to look at all of the voting irregularities uncovered in the 2000 and 2004 elections. No one will bother to point out the blatant security issues in all electronic ballot machines. No one will bother to point out that very little has been done to fix the system as a whole.

Or worse: plenty of us will bother (as we have in the past) and no one in the media or in the government will bother to listen (as has happened in the past).

I really hope that I am wrong. Not just because I want Obama to win, but because I want the will of the people to be done in this country. Seeing the groundwork of a perfect excuse being laid really scares me.

How perfect is this groundwork?

Ignoring race, this would be the THIRD time in a row the exit polls for a presidential race would be wrong.

The THIRD TIME.

Of course, this time, we would have the excuse of racism and that will be enough to keep those of us with legitimate concerns on the margins.

Lovely. I can’t wait.

Want to learn more about election irregularities? Check out http://StealingAmericaTheMovie.org/ or just check out the clip on exit polls here: http://stealingamericathemovie.org/theft.html

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