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Etc. Etc. Etc.

I not a big fan of catch-all threads, but a few items of note:

1. There is a Kansas poll out showing John McCain with just a 4-point lead over Barack Obama in the Sunflower State. But we’re not going to be listing it as it was an internal poll conducted for Jim Slattery, the Democratic candidate for US Senate. The problem with internal polls is not necessarily that they’re bad polls, but that they only become public knowledge under certain circumstances. Slattery is trying to raise money and to build enthusiasm for his campaign — to some extent, he is competing against other Democrats in order to do so. I’m sure that this poll was conducted honestly and fairly, but would a (strongly-worded) press release have been put out if Slattery had been trailing Pat Roberts by 30 points instead of 12? Probably not. For this reason, we do not list internal polls conducted on behalf of a candidate.

2. I had a longer item posted previously about one of the controversies described at Barack Obama’s Fight the Smears. After about five minutes, I decided the issue was old news and took it down. So for the couple dozen of you who might have remembered seeing the post, rest assured that you aren’t going crazy.

I did, however, want to encourage people to read Jane Hamsher at firedoglake about the matter of Larry Sinclair and to sign her petition. I am not much of a viral action kind of guy by default, but some things are so ridiculous as to merit an exception.

3. It does look like the CNN interview is going to go off tomorrow, barring further breaking news or natural disasters. My time slot is approximately 8:20 AM Eastern.

Nate Silver is the founder and editor in chief of FiveThirtyEight.

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