A new telephone poll commissioned by WGRZ TV has already been posted with a story in the online version of Buffalo Business First. This, the “final poll” commissioned by the TV station from Survey USA, puts Mayor Byron Brown ahead of challenger Mickey Kearns.

Survey USA also conducted a poll for WTVD-TV in Raleigh-Durham, NC last fall, for the Presidential election. There, three previous Survey USA polls had put McCain up by eight, five, and four points, while the fourth one put him up 20. Said McCain would get 58% of the vote, Obama 38%.

On election day, Obama won North Carolina and picked up 15 electoral votes.

So remember, polls are good space fillers for media outlets, but they aren’t always accurate, and they don’t even have to be, no offense to Survey USA.

People seem to love ‘em, though, so I figured I’d get a little mileage off this one, seeing as somebody else paid for it.

Local artist Arseno stopped by the office today with this portrait of Barack Obama made entirely of gum wrappers. (”About $40 worth,” he told us.) If you want to see the real thing, it’ll be hanging in the window at 2309 Elmwood Avenue, just north of Kenmore, where he’s opening a shop called Art Lover’s Oasis at the end of February.

Well, that didn’t take long.

The AP reports that Hillary Clinton met with Barack Obama in Chicago yesterday, adding fuel to speculation that she might be Obama’s choice for secretary of state. If that happens, it has long been rumored that Brian Higgins would be appointed to her Senate seat. (BuffaloPundit reports that rumor this morning. And again this afternoon.) I know a couple prominent businessmen who are working to make that happen, and who knows? Downstate Democrats will make that decision, but maybe it’ll come to pass.

If Clinton does go to Obama’s cabinet, and Higgins does take her Senate seat, then who fills Higgins’ spot in the House? Byron Brown has had his eye on Louise Slaughter’s seat, should she retire soon. But Higgins’ seat is probably safer for Brown (for whomever winds up in it, hypothetically). After the 2010 Census, upstate New York is likely to lose another representative in Congress, and Slaughter’s seat might be the one to go. It’s one ugly-looking district:

There has been another rumor that Brown, not Higgins, would be appointed to Clinton’s seat, but that seems nutball. Higgins’ seat seems a more reasonable aspiration for the mayor.

Who, then, would join Mickey Kearns in the race to replace Brown next year?

According to the Associated Press, Ohio’s three largest newspapers, the Columbus Dispatch, the Cincinnati Enquirer, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer—as well as the Palm Beach Post in Florida, and Nevada’s Las Vegas Review-Journal—are being delivered with a free DVD insert. Remember the days when AOL CDs were in everything from your paper to your mailbox to your breakfast cereal?

“Hype: The Obama Effect” is a 95-minute piece of propaganda produced by Citizens United, a Washington-based advocacy group. Their Web site claims they are “Dedicated to restoring our government to citizen control,” and they appear to be prolific documentary filmmakers. Some titles include “We Have the Power,” hosted by Newt and Callista Gingrich; “Blocking: The Path to 9/11” (which won an award at the San Fernando Valley Film Festival); and “Hillary: The Movie,” which was the subject of a Supreme Court decision earlier this year when Citizens United wanted to promote the film without disclosing that it was a hatchet job funded by enemies of the Senator. They lost, meaning that if they wanted to promote the movie they would have to indicate their sponsorship of it and list their political donors. The judges disagreed with Citizens United lawyers who likened the film to the PBS series “Nova,” or “60 Minutes.” It wound up playing at nine theaters.

But there’s good news for all you whackos who see this as a violation of your rights as an American to view paranoid rants by right-wing pundits. For only $35.95, you can rush-order a copy of “Hype: The Obama Effect” for your own viewing pleasure. Consider it the price you must pay to Citizens United, who only offer the trailer for free—unless you happen to live in hotly contested areas of Ohio, Florida, or Nevada—where you can get a copy of the entire movie at no additional cost, with your daily paper. Your contribution will help offset the $1 million the group is spending to give away 1.25 million copies of the DVD in those targeted areas.

But even if you act now, there’s no way you’ll receive your copy before Obama airs a half-hour message on NBC, CBS, and Fox tonight at 8pm. Fox asked for, and was granted permission from Major League Baseball to delay game six of the World Series tonight by eighteen minutes so they could sell the time to Obama.

That’s the kind of clout a candidate has when he shatters all previous records for private campaign contributions.

Here’s a new mailer from the Republican National Committee:

Now who are the grownups? Which is the party that promotes personal responsibility?

Where would we be without that imperfect political tool, the poll?

This morning, Artvoice joined the ranks of major news organizations like Reuters, C-SPAN, CNN, FOX, NBC, CBS, ABC, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, The Washington Post, and the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman (the local paper for Sarah Palin’s home town of Wasilla, AK), by conducting a poll of our own among the big crowd of people who gathered outside our office to claim a free movie preview pass for tonight’s screening of Body of Lies, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe.

Check out the clip below to see what our thrifty cross-section of movie buffs had to say about tonight’s debate and the upcoming Presidential election.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.