Fargo North Decoder

This is some major poll porn:

Barack Obama is shown with an edge against John McCain in a North Dakota presidential race that has narrowed to a statistical tie, according to a new Forum poll.

The survey shows Obama squeaking past McCain, 45 percent to 43 percent, a lead that falls within the poll’s margin of error and therefore indicates a dead heat, according to political analysts.

Still up for grabs: undecided voters, comprising 12 percent.

“It’s a statistical tossup,” said Jim Danielson, co-director of the Public Affairs Institute at Minnesota State University Moorhead, which conducted the statewide telephone survey for The Forum. Pollsters contacted 606 likely North Dakota voters by telephone Oct. 6-8.

North Dakota has no form of voter registration, so GOTV efforts can literally be targeted to anyone right up to and including Election Day.

Meanwhile, North Dakota has been getting some attention in the online world for this racist comment on the local SayAnythingBlog showing a picture of Barack Obama next to a noose. Apparently the website owner has a history of this stuff:

And I -- for one -- do not think Port deserves to be let off the hook for this simply because he pulled the offending blog post from his site. Port has a history of pulling internet stunts to try to draw attention to his website. If you click here to look at this website, you'll see someone's comment (on April 29, 2004, at 3:48 p.m.) suggesting Robbie Port used the alias "Hot Abercrombie Chick" for a span of time in an effort to generate interest in his website. (Spend a little time Googling "hot abercrombie chick" and "rob port" or "robbie port"; you'll see what I'm talking about). Port knows web traffic translates directly into web advertising money. A guy has to wonder if Port -- or his "sock puppet" -- published the offensive Obama/noose graphic in an attempt to draw national attention to his website. Frankly, it wouldn't surprise me one bit.

Port has also been banished from one North Dakota Native American Indian reservation for previous racist rants on his website. This isn't a first for Rob Port.

With North Dakota getting this much attention 22 days before the election, you know something bizarre is happening.