Can someone explain why "Democrats" would say this to the press?

[jezebel]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=211956
As Bush and Kerry crisscrossed Midwest battleground states, a new poll showed the president moving ahead of Kerry in the popular vote, and Democrats said their private surveys hinted at momentum for the Republican incumbent.


It's an AP story so it will run everywhere. I don't get it, even if it's true (which I can't believe since all the tracking polls today show the opposite) why would they say that to the media?

[Swede]

1. Simple. They wouldn't.

nt

[ixion]

2. sounds like the DLC to me...

they've been big republican fans. Just ask Joe LIEberman and Dick Gephardt. :grr:

[Demfromct]

3. I don't like the tone

As a journalist, I sense a tinge of bias in that story. Just some of the wording is suttle, like paid staff verse all-volunteer staff. That makes it sound like Bush people are more enrgized. The writer can not know that.

Also, it makes no mention of what Republicans are saying about polls. Wouldn't you think they would be gloating and saying the mojo is with us to energize their base? For the AP to write a story with no attribution to me is quite fishy. I would expect a columnist or a big-time pundit to be able to say this, but a rank and file field reporter giving unattributed internal poll numbers makes me skeptical. You don't even know the context of the question. It weans't a quote, just a realy of information. I discout that. And they only quoted the newsweek poll. Is the Foxnews poll, Zogby, WAsh Post tracking and Rasmussen tightening been discredited?

I am surprised that story made it off the copy desk. Who is that writer? They have the freedom to file stories with unatrributed information? The Bush momentum may be true, but this story is badly done.

[LiberalFighter]

4. Since when have repug staffs been unpaid volunteers?

[jezebel]

5. It's Ron Fournier and Nedra Pickler

And it's top of AP top stories.