The news media have devoted scant coverage to the $280 billion federal lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice against tobacco companies, but anti-tobacco activists are filling the gap with a weblog that offers blow-by-blow analysis of the trial and courtroom testimony.

After MoveOn.org accused the Gallup polling firm of using a survey methodology that stacks the deck in favor of Republicans, CNN (which uses Gallup) responded with a news segment that "implicitly confirmed a criticism of itself that was leveled in the MoveOn ad: the charge that CNN winds up 'acting as unquestioning promotional partners [with Gallup], rather than as critical journalists.'" Gallup's polls have shown a substantial lead for Bush, but other recent

"If 2000 was any indication," writes Joshua Micah Marshall, the winner of this week's presidential campaign debate "won't be determined during the 90 minute encounter itself but during the spin war that will follow it. And with the advantage the Republicans have on the cable nets, talk radio and chat TV shows, the odds are stacked in their favor." In 2000, the initial public reactions to the first Bush/Gore debate had Gore coming out on top. "It was only after several days of pundit churn that Bush became the winner," Marshall notes.