Reply #20: I think the horse-race thing has a lot to do with it, and I think flat-out bias

[smoogatz]

has a lot to do with it, too. But I also think the corp.-media types are honestly having some trouble accepting and understanding the political sea-change that's taking place in the U.S. They really don't know how to talk about it without appearing biased against McCain/conservatives, which is something they cannot do under any circumstances. So really, all they're left with is a lot of empty bloviating about whether or not the polls overstate Obama's lead. They can't characterize the race as "not close" without fear of unduly affecting the outcome. It's the same phenomenon as in the primary: even though Hillary had been mathematically eliminated for all intents and purposes as far back as February, the media kept playing it like they were essentially tied. It's ratings, it's bias, but it's also a fundamental failure to understand the dynamic, IMO.