As other commenters on this site seem to be wondering about this, the Diageo/Hotline presidential poll of 10/8 has caught my attention. I am trying to understand some of the numbers behind their determination that, even after all this bad economic news, Obama leads McCain by only 45-44% among likely voters. I am not questioning the methodology of the poll (others are more qualified than myself to do that), but after some analysis of the numbers being reported, my suspicions have been aroused. Therefore, some investigation into who is actually conducting the poll is what I am concerned with. Here is a link to the PDF of the poll itself:

http://www.diageohotlinepoll.com/documen ts/diageohotlinepoll/DiageoHotlineTracke r100808release.pdf

The poll shows that since last week, Obama's numbers have dropped on EVERY MEASURE, even after a disastrous week for the economy, which the poll itself clearly states is the number 1 issue for 62% of voters. In fact, the poll declares Obama and McCain TIED at 42% on who would do the best job handling the economy, which seems to run completely against every other poll I've seen. This includes poll numbers coming out of the 10/7 debates.

The ready-to-lead numbers and the best understands my needs numbers have also dropped. I grant that Sarah Palin's venomous, scurrilous attacks on Obama may be doing some damage, but what does Bill Ayers have to do with the economy? I may be naive in thinking that unaffiliated voters would see through the McCain campaign's garbage and focus on the issues, but these are the facts staring them in the face everytime they check their 402k's.

After wondering why a Republican who supported Bush on every economic policy during his term would be doing as well as he seemed to be on the week after the stock market lost over 5% of its value, I thought it was worth taking a look into the good folks who are bringing to you this poll. Let's start with the Diageo PLC company statement:

About Diageo: Diageo (Dee-AH-Gee-O) is the world's leading premium drinks business with an outstanding collection of beverage alcohol brands across spirits, wines, and beer categories. Diageo is a global company, trading in more than 200 countries around the world.

Cindy McCain, wife of presidential candidate John McCain, is the chairman of the board of Hensley & Co., one of the largest Anheuser-Busch product distributors in the United States. It appears (to me, anyway) that some of Diageo PLL's "global" priorities have mingled with those of candidate John McCain and his wife.

As reported by the Phoenix Business Journal on 9/12, here in my home state of Arizona:

The liquor lobby stalled a recent measure ["Healthy Arizona Kids"] floated by Phoenix Children's Hospital that would have raised state beer, wine and liquor taxes and dedicated the funds to health programs for children and the uninsured.

The liquor lobby came out financially against this measure, and have helped put Prop. 105, known as "Majority Rules", (I prefer the term, "facsism") on the Nov. 4 ballot:

Proposition 105 would require future tax increases and spending initiatives to be approved by a majority of the state's 2.8 million registered voters -- not just a majority of those actually voting in that election.

Let me state upfront that unlike just about every liquor concern doing business in Arizona, Diageo PLL is NOT part of the push for the clearly undemocratic Prop. 105, which essentially counts every non-voters' vote as a "No". But reporting on this issue seems to indicate in my mind some continuity of effort between Diageo and Hensley. According to the Phoenix Business Journal:

Jason Rose, president of Rose Allyn Public Relations, which represents liquor maker Diageo PLC, ... said Diageo, the Arizona Restaurant & Hospitality Association, Hensley and others told PCH they would fight the "Healthy Arizona Kids" measure.

Now, am I naive enough to believe that other polls aren't susceptible to a similiar complaints of undue influence? No. But even the Fox News poll seems credible to me. I understand that somebody has to commission these polls, but, as long as we're at it, my question is: when is the Anheuser-Busch/Davis Manafort poll coming out?