Since the Beltway press always sides with process over substance (see here), the Post chose to herald the results of its latest polling data with this headline:

Poll Shows Obama Slipping on Key Issues: Approval Rating on Health Care Falls Below 50 Percent

The lede was definitely of the breathless variety:

Heading into a critical period in the debate over health-care reform, public approval of President Obama's stewardship on the issue has dropped below the 50 percent threshold for the first time, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Uh-oh. There's a debate about health care reform currently consuming the Beltway and the poll results were very bad news for Obama and his health care agenda.

Readers though, had to go online to washingontpost.com to uncover this nugget featured prominently [emphasis added]:

Up on Capitol Hill it may feel as though Obama's top domestic priority has hit a rough patch, but beyond the Beltway the American people are in favor of the sort of sweeping overhaul envisioned by Democrats, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. The survey found that 54 percent of Americans support legislation that tracks the broad parameters of bills in Congress drafted by Democratic leaders.

The fact that a majority of Americans actually want the type of health care reform now being proposed just isn't as newsworthy for the Post.

UPDATED: Writes blogger Bill Scher:

What the headline does not tell its readers is the actual health care policy the President supports -- including a public plan option -- still polls strong, particularly among independents as well as Democrats.

The Post buries the news in the ninth paragraph.