Today on the Dish, we closely followed Hurricane Sandy's destruction here, here and here. As the storm swept up the coast, Jeff Masters analyzed breaking info, Cord Jefferson warned about fake pics, and Brad Plumer used Sandy to discuss global warming. As some contended that the hurricane would hurt Obama's reelection chances, John Allen broke down the potential advantage for Obama. Blake Zeff pointed out that the hurricane forces both candidates out of their comfort zones while John McTernan's rhetoric put him in Malkin territory. Sandy-related FOTD here and the view from Andrew's blackout here.
In election coverage, Andrew called out poll-divining propaganda and invited readers to send in contradicting headlines about the same new item. He then argued against the double-standard that bars scrutiny of Mormon traditions and noted that "politicized Christianism trumps apolitical denominationalism. In poll analysis, Andrew kept an eye on Ohio, Silver's model remained unchanged despite epithets cast his way, and Tom Kludt compared live polls with robo-polls. John Sides then debunked the significance of undecideds and reviewed accuracy in past elections, as Mark Blumenthal looked into how the storm might affect polling.
In other election news, after Jonathan Cohn saw Romney's fib-heavy auto industry ad as a sign of desperation, the Obama campaign hit back. As Ezra Klein rounded up pollster views on an EC-popular vote split, Kornacki previewed the GOP response should Obama lose the popular vote but win the EC. Larison then imagined the 2016 Republican primaries, a Florida pastor explained big early voter turnout among African-Americans, and as Massie gave the British perspective on Romney, Robert Dittmar emphasized that fixing the deficit required controlling healthcare costs. Plus, buggies caused Tuesday election precedent
In assorted commentary, Tony Dokoupil considered the downsides to legal pot and Jacob Sullum wondered whether marijuana arrests would continue to decrease. Joshua Foer revealed the secret to stickier memories, David Allen refined notions of "information overload" and amnesia made for good romance flicks. Tom Stafford theorized on the nature of our Tetris-love, making time for procrastination improved focus and innovation impaired reliability. Halloween MHB here.
– G.G.
(Photo of downtown New York at 7.59 pm, sent by a reader)
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