Without pointing fingers, the Blogland's crack(pot) investigative team has received reports of push-polling being employed in several legislative races around the state. Since the thesis work has us mired in the mud for a couple more weeks, checking into these reports is a little difficult right now. Since we don't have all the facts about what may or may not be taking place, it wouldn't be fair to point fingers ... yet.

We talked about push-polling a bit two years ago, when it was being used against Lt. Governor Andre Bauer's re-election campaign. Research shows it's not the most effective tool in the campaign arsenal, even if mudslingers hope it will work. What it DOES accomplish is to make the public a little more cynical about the political process while harassing them at home, and there are times when it is believed to have backfired upon the attacker. Those are good reasons why we're against such practices.

We'll be keeping our eyes and ears open for reports of push-polling. As we've done in the past, we'll give both campaigns a chance to state their case, as third-party groups seem to be doing a lot of these attacks and not the campaigns of the candidates.

If you would like to discuss push-polling that you are aware of, we invite you to contact us via email. Help us blow the whistle on these shady tactics and whoever is willing to stoop low enough to use them.