"HILLARY LEADS IN WORTHLESS POLL" (Updated, with audio)

UPDATE: Ari Melber was on Goldy's show last night on KIRO710 and you can hear it here.

Ari Melber (The Nation):

Hillary Clinton now leads her rivals in the crucial state of Iowa -- according to a meaningless poll released this weekend. Just last week, of course, politicos were buzzing about another worthless poll that showed Barack Obama leading the Iowa pack. These polls will continue to fluctuate wildly because it's very hard to determine likely caucus attendees at this point. But most Iowa polling is worthless anyway, since it doesn't factor in the state's unusual caucus and "viability" rules.

(For more details, see my piece last week, Obama Leads in Worthless Poll.)

Even the professionals have trouble keeping all these polls straight. Here's how the AP described the Democratic horse race this weekend:

Hillary Rodham Clinton has taken the lead among Democratic presidential candidates in an Iowa poll, an encouraging sign of progress toward overcoming a big hurdle in the race.

And here's how the AP described the race, well, this weekend:

[Clinton is in] a much closer race in Iowa, where she is in a tight three-way contest with Barack Obama and John Edwards.

Clinton leads Iowa! No, it's a tight three-way race! No, Obama leads Iowa!

Is this really what we have to suffer through for the next three months? Did reporters and pundits learn nothing from their misplaced faith in erroneous polls last cycle? Does the AP fact-check articles by reading other AP articles? (Alright, that one's obviously a no.)

After all the election problems in 2000, the media agreed not to broadcast premature exit polling on Election Day, since it can mislead the public and interfere with the voting process. By that logic, maybe we should also focus less on these polls over the next few months.

Howie P.S: Ari Melber, it is rumored, will be showing up at Seattle's Drinking Liberally tomorrow (Tuesday) night. I'm starting to share his disdain for these polls after seeing AP-Ipsos (a national poll) flunctuate from Hillary +33, to Hillary +13 the following week and this week it's Hillary +20. Campaigns used to spin poll results, often using polls they paid for, to help fundraising and influence "insider" chatter. Now that's moved out onto the street, aided by the blogosphere and the other media.