Arianna Huffington and Harry Shearer
Entry 48:
Good morning, Harry. I was hoping to enhance our breakfast table relationship by seeing you at the party for Greetings from the Lincoln Bedroom last night. But hard though I searched the crowd, you were nowhere to be seen. Bill Maher read your blurb for the book, plus Al Franken's and his, and asked the partygoers to choose their favorite. It was a completely unreliable poll, of course, which I personally refused to participate in, but they did choose his.
But the real major pollster failure last night was Mark Penn's. The president's pollster and Washington's favorite political consultant, Bob Shrum, took over Al Checchi's campaign and delivered 13% of the vote. Ironically, the best speech Checchi gave during the campaign was his concession speech. It's as though when candidates are released from having to mouth the latest poll-tested data, they start to sound human again. And it was a nice touch going over to Davis' celebration to personally congratulate him and pledge his support.
Arianna Huffington is a nationally syndicated columnist. Harry Shearer is host of radio's Le Show, a screenwriter, an actor, and provider of several voices on The Simpsons.