Noam Scheiber has a great piece in The New Republic on the undue influence of Washington pollsters on Democratic campaigns. The upshot is that the party message is enforced from the mothership in Washington through the complex set of relationships between well-connected Democratic polling firms, the party election committees, the regionals, and the campaign committees. In 2002, the polling-derived message was almost certainly flawed and snuffed out any local issues where Democratic candidates would have otherwise found traction. Significantly, the Republican infrastructure has no such polling “inner circle” and candidates are therefore more flexible on campaign strategy.
It’s sharp thinking and a worthwhile concern, but blaming the Democratic polling machine for flaccid policy doesn’t make me feel any better.
a technology job is no excuse 