Hardball website continues to host GOP “virtual straw poll,” but no Democratic poll, almost two weeks following completion of actual straw poll at GOP conference

Written by Joe Brown

Published

MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews website continues to feature its own “virtual straw poll” allowing visitors to pick their preferred GOP nominee from a slate of 12 “contenders.” The website does not feature a Democratic “virtual straw poll.”

Since MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews began its coverage of the March 9-12 Southern Republican Leadership Conference (SRLC) in Memphis, Tennessee -- which featured a straw poll in which attendees picked their favorite Republican presidential candidate for 2008 -- the Hardball website has featured its own "virtual straw poll" allowing visitors to pick their preferred GOP nominee from a slate of 12 "contenders." The Hardball website does not feature a Democratic “virtual straw poll.”

In addition to keeping a running tally of voting results, Hardball's website has put together a “scouting report” for each of the contenders in the “virtual straw poll,” featuring biographical information, “noteworthy nuggets,” a list of the contender's “pros” and “cons,” and a prediction of the contender's success in the Republican primary race. Each contender is rated using boxing terms such as a “flyweight,” “lightweight,” “welterweight,” or “heavyweight.”

The only contender MSNBC picked as a “heavyweight” is Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who finished fifth in the actual SRLC straw poll with 4.6 percent of the votes, after telling conference attendees to cast write-in votes in support of President Bush. Bush finished tied for third, with 10.3 percent of the votes. As Media Matters for America has previously noted, Matthews has repeatedly lauded McCain as a “maverick” (here and here) -- a characterization repeated in McCain's “scouting report” -- and provided McCain with a forum to attack Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) during a flap between the two senators. Matthews later pronounced McCain the victor in “the big fight in Washington.”

Since the SRLC ended, Matthews has continued to tout the GOP “virtual straw poll.” A Media Matters search* of the Nexis database revealed six hits, including seven separate mentions on Hardball of the straw poll from March 13 through March 23. The most recent example occurred on March 23, 11 days after the SRLC ended, and 12 days after the results of the actual SRLC straw poll were announced on March 11.

*publication (hardball) and (virtual or online) w/5 (poll or vote) and date(geq (3/13/06) and leq (3/23/06))