2012 U.S. Presidential Election

[mr_pikachu]

That's another story which should be big news and which won't get any play in the mainstream media.

Here's an article that's at least garnered a (very low) headline on Google News. Apparently the Obama campaign's new advertisement, which shows NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell fact-checking the $5 trillion claim (among other debate claims made by both candidates), was devised without NBC's consent. NBC is asking the Obama campaign to cease using their footage, since they haven't given either side permission to do so.

The thing is, the Obama team still benefits from it. A lot of people saw the commercial itself, while comparatively few will see them getting called out over it. That's the same reason why I try to avoid paying any attention to campaign advertisements over the last few days of any election cycle: a candidate can pretty much say whatever he or she wants, and the polls will close long before any retraction can actually be compelled. By the time voters hear the "Oh, yeah, that was a complete lie" admission, they've already voted.

In any case, RealClearPolitics now has Obama's lead at 1.1%. The Rasmussen and Gallup polls taken after the debate both have the election tied, while Politico's Oct. 1-4 poll has Obama by 1%. Two of the remaining three polls that are still in the moving average, all of which ended on Sept. 30, give Obama a 3% edge; the third called it a tie at that point.