Former Daily Kos blogger Nate Silver turned heads with his Obama-friendly election predictions in the New York Times, but CNN's Soledad O'Brien thinks his conclusions show no bias. Of course, the liberal CNN anchor just might have a blind spot for poll numbers favoring Obama.
"Nate Silver is very careful about focusing on the numbers. And he doesn't have a liberal bias in his calculations, which I think is why a lot of people follow what he has to say," O'Brien declared on Tuesday's Starting Point. [Video below the break. Audio here.]
Silver reported a "pretty clear shift to Obama in the national polls," as O'Brien noted, but has she seen CNN's latest national poll showing Obama and Romney tied? She didn't mention that in the interview.
"Well, Soledad, as you know The New York Times is not exactly a bastion of conservative thought," responded Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) after O'Brien threw Silver's numbers his way. O'Brien complimented Silver that he "has been really crunching the data."
A transcript of the segment, which aired on Early Start on November 6 at 6:07 a.m. EST, is as follows:
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: If you look at what Nate Silver from The New York Times has been really crunching the data, and then tweeting out some of his results, and he tweeted out last night that the President had a 91 percent chance of winning the Electoral College. And he notes, a quote, "pretty clear shift to Obama in the national polls." I know lots of Republicans who have said these polls could be way off. Where do you stand on that? Are you seeing the same – are you crunching the same data that he's crunching?
Rep. RANDY FORBES (R-Va.): Well, Soledad, as you know The New York Times is not exactly a bastion of conservative thought. But if you look at a lot of other experts who make their living on this, whether it's Michael Barone or Karl Rove or Bill Kristol or even Rush Limbaugh, you know they've come out, they've done the same thing --
O'BRIEN: Not bastions of liberal thought –
FORBES: – they believe that Governor Romney's going to have a big day today, and I think that's what we're going to see. You know, some of these polls, Soledad, as you know, they measure a few hundred people. We've been measuring thousands of people across Virginia. And if the excitement across the country is anything like it is in Virginia I think it's going to be a new day in the country tomorrow.
O'BRIEN: Just to point out, that Nate Silver is very careful about focusing on the numbers. And he doesn't have a liberal bias in his calculations, which I think is why a lot of people follow what he has to say. And I'm not sure how I feel about what he's been reporting that 91 percent. We've been discussing it all morning.
H/T Jay Primetown
