RGJ: Listening in on a humorously skewed poll

Anjeanette Damon at the Reno Gazette-Journal wrote Wednesday about a listening in on an apparently one-sided telephone poll, which seemed to push U.S. Rep. Dean Heller (R-Carson City) and pan his Democratic opponent, Jill Derby.

In her Inside Politics blog on the RGJ website, Damon questioned if Heller's campaign played a part in commissioning the telephone survey, which featured a pollster speaking in glowing terms about the freshman congressman and not-so-subtly calling Derby's record into question.

An excerpt of Damon's post is below:

The caller asked about U.S. Rep. Dean Heller's ability "to get things done" and his willingness to put constituents' interests over partisan politics. She asked if Heller is "one of us" sharing the same experiences, "worries and hope for the future."

Listing a number of positions, the caller asked if one was more or less likely to vote for Heller for his proven ability to work on a bipartisan basis, his support of English-only ballots, his fight against wasteful spending and his work to secure funding for DNA testing. My favorite: Heller "knows you can't haul supplies with a hybrid" and that "we need pick up trucks."

The pollster then switched her focus to Heller's Democratic opponent Jill Derby. According to the pollster, Derby is a career politician. She wasted $85,000 of taxpayer money on "worthless junkets" while on the Board of Regents (at one point the pollster said $85 million)."

Damon wrote that the pollster repeatedly misused words and made multiple erroneous references to Gov. "Jim Gibson." Damon followed Wednesday's story up with another post Thursday, adding context to the poll.