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# Peering a bit deeper into the polls
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/peering-a-bit-deeper-into-the-polls-editor/
- Published: 2008-01-10T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T17:53:39.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By David Alsabery Santa Monica*

The major news outlets have devoted time to the candidates they think are the leading candidates. We see a CNN Poll of 377 people that still use land lines and they announce (Mike) Huckabee has taken the lead for Republicans, but has only $2 million in the bank. (Hillary) Clinton is said to lead the polls, but the number of unique donors is higher for (Barack) Obama.

If the media says you are a front-runner, are you? Is this a self-fulfilling prophecy? Not for long.

A change is happening that is important. For the first time, the Internet is changing the way elections are going to be run. For the first time, we can impact a candidate and research all of the candidates ourselves. The big media of FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN are about to have their power called into question and it’s happening right now. Look around, lots of real people is what is important now.

Hillary, Obama and Paul are leading in fundraising, with about $20 million each for Q4 2007, with all of the other candidates notably quiet and not reporting their numbers. Obama reported 472,630 unique donors, while Paul had 144,231 total donors, leading the Democrat and Republican fields. It seems that Barack Obama and Ron Paul have more individual donors than any other candidates, yet they are not being called the leading candidate. What is more disturbing is the fact that Ron Paul has the most individual donors out of the Republicans, but only has 30 percent of the number that Obama has. You would think that it is a big story, but if it were, that would mean the media polls would stop being important, influencing the election process.

As a long-time Republican conservative, the message the party is saying is not making me or other Republicans donate real money. Democrats are out-fundraising Republicans three-to-one and no one is talking about it.

Lots of people, giving real money, might win the election now. We the People are starting to figure out the game. Pay attention, America, your vote does count and 200,000 people with $100 donations will outspend the corporations. Vote for the best candidate. Give $100 to your favorite candidate in the primaries and stop having to pick from the better of two evils. It’s cheaper than having the dollars in your savings accounts drop by 40 percent.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 10, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/011008.pdf?ref=smdp.com)