Free Republic

Senate poll averages across eight battleground states overstated Republican support heading into the 2022 midterm elections, an examination of projected outcomes and polling shows. Democrats on average performed about three points better than pre-election RealClearPolitics polling averages, the Wall Street Journal reported. Republicans may have assumed that pollsters, just like the establishment media, were biased against Republicans and would therefore understate GOP support like pollsters have in the past.

The FBI has repeatedly provided grossly inflated statistics to Congress and the public about the extent of problems posed by encrypted cellphones, claiming investigators were locked out of nearly 7,800 devices connected to crimes last year when the correct number was much smaller, probably between 1,000 and 2,000, The Washington Post has learned. Over a period of seven months, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray cited the inflated figure as the most compelling evidence for the need to address what the FBI calls “Going Dark” — the spread of encrypted software that can block investigators’ access to digital data even with...

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration's effort to persuade mortgage companies to lower payments for up to 4 million homeowners could fall short of its goal, according to congressional investigators. The Government Accountability office said Thursday the administration's projections that its loan modification plan could help 3 million to 4 million borrowers "may be overstated" because it's based on uncertain assumptions about the mortgage market and overall economic conditions. In March, the Obama administration launched a plan to give the lending industry up to $50 billion in financial incentives to modify mortgages for struggling borrowers. As of this week, 31 mortgage...

** EXCERPT ** NEW YORK (AP) _ Unofficial returns from New York's Democratic primary may have overstated Hillary Clinton's margin of victory over Barack Obama. On election night, 80 election districts in New York City initially reported that they had not recorded a single vote for Obama, despite logging thousands for Clinton and hundreds for former candidate John Edwards. Official tallies, released later, revealed that Obama had indeed received many votes in those districts. **snip**It was unclear why the errors had taken place. Unofficial voting results are reported by election officials to police officers, then released to the media.

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Under pressure to show results from one of the governor's key budget initiatives, the state's Department of General Services announced last month that a new procurement program saved state and local taxpayers $1.1 million on an order for 1,600 police cars. But the state will actually save less than $75,000, according to purchasing records and interviews - a result that may prove to be the latest in a trail of disappointments for the "strategic sourcing" program, which faces a Senate hearing in the coming weeks and growing criticism among lawmakers. Launched by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in June...

Newsday is cutting as many as 100 jobs through voluntary and non-voluntary buyouts, the Long Island newspaper's publisher said Thursday. "We have been engaged in a thorough review of everything we do, establishing priorities for next year based on our strategic objectives," Publisher Timothy Knight wrote in an e-mail to employees. A story about the cuts was also posted on the newspaper's Web site. "It is clear that we will face continued revenue challenges next year and, as a result, we need to make significant changes in the business in order to have a healthier newspaper for the future," Knight...

TORONTO -- Some marketers have concerns about advertising in U.S. newspapers because of circulation scandals that have rocked the industry, media buyers said yesterday at the Audit Bureau of Circulations conference in Toronto. "I'm getting a lot of questions from clients about it. I remind clients that the vast majority of publications play by the rules," said David Verklin, chief executive officer of Carat North America, a major buyer of advertising time and space. Speaking on a panel about what advertisers want from print, Mr. Verklin said pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer Inc., one of Carat's large clients, is "very concerned" about...