I know that poll-watching is the favourite form of armchair generalship in our internet-focussed society, but I so wish it were not so. The only poll that matters is the one that will be conducted with actual ballots during the actual election.

I'm reading less and less of the several news sources to which I subscribe because so many of the reports and opinion pieces focus on the latest polling and wild speculation about what it all means.

I believe (i.e., I don't know but I've been told) that such polls are conducted by telephone, suggesting that the sample skews strongly toward people who have the time and inclination to answer a telephone call from an unknown number. (My phone is set to shunt all such calls to voice mail.) I also believe that a not insignificant number of people lie to pollsters, some because they don't want to admit even to themselves what they really think, and others because they like to be transgressive when they know they can get away with it.

The rise of Ms Harris and her team is fascinating, almost eclipsing the tawdry spectacle of the Trump campaign, but I know better than to call the race now for either side, whatever the current poll numbers.

Now I'll go check the echo chamber for a backgrounder on Mr Walz.