This afternoon on Hardball, Chris Matthews asked Chuck Todd why voters thought that Obama and Biden did better on the debates than McCain and Palin by a margin of almost two to one. Todd's expert analysis? He said that voters are grading on a curve. He felt that respondents were holding McCain and Palin to a higher standard than they held Obama and Palin.
It's this kind of facile analysis that keeps me from climbing on the Chuck Todd Love Train. While I don't think that Todd is in the tank for a particular candidate, I do think that Todd, like others in the TradMed, is more interested in flogging the idea of a "close race", even though this race isn't close. Todd, just like John King on CNN, plays with his computer map, spinning "what if" scenarios designed to sell the race.
What Todd doesn't do is give solid political analysis. There are real reasons why Obama/Biden are ahead in the polls, and ahead in terms of debate performance that have nothing to do with voters "grading on the curve." Todd's superficial analysis is disappointing.