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Online critics to judge Clinton performance
Cyber vox pop planned for State of the Union swan song
In a foreshadowing of cyber-stunts geared to this year's looming election season, US President Bill Clinton's final State of the Union address will be evaluated instantly by viewers via the Web, polling outfit InterSurvey announced today. The poll was designed in partnership with CBS News, which will of course broadcast the results. The company says it's using "proven sampling methods used in the best academic and commercial research" to select a representative sample of households. Panelists throughout the country are to be outfitted with WebTV for the occasion. "Because of the care in properly sampling from the entire population, the InterSurvey panel represents all segments of the entire population across the country, even the half that would normally not have Internet access," the company claims. Within 30 minutes of Clinton's address, CBS News will report "scientifically valid polling data" revealing the public's reaction, the company says. American television news programmers bend over backwards to integrate all things Net-related into their service, regardless of how gimmicky, trivial, or boring they may be. We look forward, with considerable ennui, to more of the same once the New Hampshire primaries get underway. ®