[A new Quinnipiac poll](https://badgerherald.com/news/2008/10/15/poll_mccain_trailing.php) shows Barack Obama ahead of John McCain by 17 points in our state, making me wonder if those pollsters in New Jersey know who to call in the Sconz to get an accurate election-day profile. There doesn’t seem to be any way Obama, even in a landslide situation, will carry Wisconsin by such a high margin. Double-digits a lone seems like a stretch, although conservative Times columnist David Brooks did predict McCain would lose the election by 9 points nationwide. I don’t know why I inherently trust Brooks, but he seems so sober-minded and disillusioned these days that I think he may just be speaking the truth.