John Moltz

That librul media!

When is a lead not a lead? When is a lead actually a lead?

Why, it depends on who's got the lead!

AP Poll: Bush, Kerry in Dead Heat

Ah, so they're tied!

Well, yes and no. Kerry got 49%, Bush got 46% and the margin of error is 3%. Fair enough.

But Reuters, which I think is arguably less pro-Bush than the AP (NNNNNNNNEDRA!), chooses to put a different spin on their poll results.

Reuters Poll: Bush Grabs One-Point Lead on Kerry

Bush leads 46% to 45%. Margin of error? 2.9%.

So, a somewhat statistically insignificant Kerry lead is a "dead heat". But a much more statistically insignificant Bush lead is a "lead".

Go Bush!

Frankly I don't know why I bother to look at these assinine polls since what actually matters is the results of the 51 individual races for president that will take place in one and a half weeks.

But, c'mon...

UPDATE: Kos noticed the same thing.

UPDATE II: Atrios correctly notes the way the margin of error works - which I vaguely remember from the statistics class in my MBA program - and which further points out how wet Reuters' headline is.