Following the Polling

Nate Silver has two items this week that are of particular interest to editors
wanting to get polling right.

The  oil spill question.

And, reflecting his grounding in baseball stats, he's got an especially interesting, if not completely scientific, take on the liberal value of Elena Kagan and Diane Woods, rooted in age and longevity.

What Silver is especially good at is delving into the numbers and avoiding the horse-race qualities of most poll reporting.

Psychic Polls Alert

The Hill doesn't know how to read polls

As someone noted, you can't get good poll results from something that hasn't happened. Trying to guess the effect of a Senate vote on the health care bill when it has't occurred yet is foolish--why even report on them?