Yes, that's right, folks. Three major Pennsylvanian primary polls came out today that at least partially taken in the wake of the faux "bitter controversy."
Rasmussen showed Clinton expanding her lead from five to nine. Quinnipiac showed Clinton's lead static at six. And SurveyUSA showed Clinton's lead shrinking from 18 to 14.
Hmm, sounds like a mixed bag. Only one poll indicates any damage to Obama, and another indicates that Obama's position is actually improving. So what is the headline that the "Best Political Team on Television" takes away from this general lull in poll movement?
That's right: Polls: Clinton Slightly Up in Pennsylvania.
Granted, two of these polls may have not been up at print time. Which one was, and which one was specifically focused on in the article? The Quinnipiac poll! That's right. The poll that showed NO MOVEMENT was the one that was used to illustrate Clinton gaining ground (although, of course, they neglected to compare the Quinnipiac poll with the previous Q poll, which would stand to reason if you weren't CNN and trying to bend facts in Clinton's favor.
Here's RCP's PA primary poll page. You'll note it does confirm the slight Clinton gain! One, of course, that can be counted as noise. And one that's not nearly as noticeable as the spike in Obama's lead nationally among Democrats.
So what to say about CNN? I really don't know. Their pro-Clinton bias has been alarming, to say the least -- although they do pack a reality based panel together (Toobin, Cafferty and Borger) on occasion. But the bulk of the political coverage is clear Clinton promotion.
I could go on about CNN's biases, but I'm sure you've seen it before. Equal time, for instance, on stump speeches. That's equal time for Bill, Hillary, Chelsea (when she's campaigning), and Obama, which seems to work out for a lot more Clinton coverage than Obama coverage.
And don't get me started on Dana Bash, Candy Crowley, Jim Acosta, Jessica Yellin, Suzanne Malveaux, Wolf Blitzer ...
UPDATE: Thanks to smash artist for pointing out how CNN's "poll of polls" shows Clinton's lead widening. They had dropped the previous SUSA poll off, so when the new one came out and was calculated in again, it widened the lead back out, EVEN THOUGH SUSA ITSELF SHOWED THE LEAD NARROWING. Someone needs to explain to the people at CNN about using comparable data sets when watching for poll movement.