Poll PositionsJeff Greenfield takes readers' questions on the New Hampshire screw-up and how the media cover the primaries.

Slate contributor Jeff Greenfield, CBS News' senior political correspondent, was online at Washingtonpost.com on Jan. 10 to discuss the media's New Hampshire polling screw-up, speculation of the presidential race, and other complexities of the primary races.

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Jeff Greenfield: That'd be fine with me ... the one time I was handed an exit poll—years ago—I looked at the list of questions (income, martial status, sexual preference) and offered a colorful suggestion about where the questionnarie might find a home.

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Augusta, Maine: "Yes, We can" reminded me of the title of the autobiography of Sammy Davis Jr.: "Yes, I Can." I would think Obama had heard of that, maybe his grandparents had it around the house. Davis was a figure who appealed across racial lines—a uniter, not a divider. What do you think?

Jeff Greenfield: Well ... I will share with you a line that Davis often used. He was supposedly setting out for a round of golf and someone asked "what's your handicap?" He answered: "I'm a one-eyed black Jew—what's yours?" This next one will have to be my final entry.

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Silver Spring, Md.: Jeff, You obviously had a very upclose view of (and participation in) the RFK campaign in 1968. Much has been written about Obama and comparisons to RFK and the power of oratory and creation of a "movement." Are there real parallels here?

Jeff Greenfield: I've been asked this a lot. I think it's an overreach. In '68, there was a war with 500,000 American in uniform—many draftees—with hundreds dying every week. Cities were in flames; so were campuses. And RFK was the brother of a martyred president who had been a key player in the Cuban Missile Crisis—the most serious in decades, maybe ever. I understand the comparison—but I don't think it's right.

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Ashland, Mo.: Commentators seem to have difficulty not making straight line extrapolations from one event to another. They also violate the Sherlock Holmes rule that hard evidence determines the outcome, not evidence that fits a preconceived theory. Shouldn't we just assume political reporters and commentators are obsessive compulsive people who can't be trusted to be objective because they just don't have the capacity to be objective? Much like smokers who can't quit.

Jeff Greenfield: Be my guest ... sometimes readers and listeners have their own preconceived notions! With that, I'll sign off. Thanks for the quality of the questions...

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