'Inside Washington' Panel Unanimously Says Obama Wins If Election Held Today

The national and battleground state polls are all showing tremendous momentum for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney since the first debate.

Despite this, with the absence of conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer, the entire panel of PBS’s Inside Washington Friday – comprised of the Washington Post’s Colby King, PBS’s Mark Shields, Politico’s Evan Thomas, and NPR’s Nina Totenberg – unanimously stated that if the election were held today, President Obama would win (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Let’s begin with King’s claim about the national tracking polls showing the race is close.

Gallup now has Romney up by five, and this is long enough after Monday’s debate to include the impact.

Rasmussen has Romney up by four, and this is now the fifth day in a row that Romney has gotten 50 percent or more of the total - which is huge.

The Real Clear Politics average has Romney up by one.

As such, the momentum has been strongly in Romney’s favor since the first debate, and the national polls are clearly reflecting that.

As for King’s claim about battleground states favoring Obama, RCP currently has the President with 201 “solid” electoral votes, and Romney with 191.

Drill down into the toss up states, and you find a tie in Colorado, Romney up by 1.8 percent in Florida, Obama up by 2.3 percent in Iowa, Obama only up by 4 percent in Michigan, Obama up by 2.5 percent in Nevada, Obama up by 1.1 percent in New Hampshire, Romney up by 3.8 percent in North Carolina, Obama up by only 2.3 percent in the crucial state of Ohio, Obama now only up by 4.8 percent in Pennsylvania, Romney up by 1.2 percent in Virginia, and Obama only up by 2.3 percent in Wisconsin.

Yet when the conversation turned to these battleground states, Shields said, “Ohio remains beyond Romney’s grasp at this point.”

Really? Obama’s up by 2.3 percent. That’s “beyond Romney’s grasp?”

The absurdity didn’t end there, for King then said, “Virginia will probably end up in Obama’s camp.”

Host Gordon Peterson interrupted King correctly saying, “I just looked at the polls when we started this program, and Romney’s up by the average by 1.2”

King was undeterred by the facts saying, “You can pick your poll in Virginia because there’s another poll that shows that Obama is up in Virginia.”

Really? Here’s what RCP shows for polls in Virginia:

As you can see, King isn’t dealing in facts. He reports whatever he wants regardless of the truth.

Must be nice to have a job like that.