Say everybody, I've got a great new game to play! It's the "How Can Gallup....." game.

How do you play? It's easy! Just take the latest Gallup outlier and compare it to other publicly available data that seem to contradict it. And let the fun begin!

Today's Gallup outlier is their RV result in their latest poll. As many have no doubt heard, that result puts Bush up a whopping 13 points over Kerry in a head-to-head matchup. Maybe that 13 points sounds familiar. Well, last Gallup poll, it was their LV result that had Bush ahead by 13 and that was far away from everyone else's results. Guess they like to spread those outliers around.

Here are some examples I've come up with, but the great thing about this game is that all of you can play at home and make up your own examples, so be sure to do so.

How can Gallup......have Bush up by 13 nationwide, when he's only up by 2 points among Florida RVs?--and according to their own poll!

How can Gallup.....have Bush up by 13 nationwide, when he's only up by 2 points among Nevada RVs?--again, according to their own poll.

How can Gallup....have Bush up by 13 nationwide, when he's only up by 3 points in Ohio, according to Fox News?

How can Gallup....have Bush up by 13 nationwide, when he trailing by 5 points in Pennsylvania and 2 points in Michigan, according to Fox News?

How can Gallup.....have Bush up by 13 nationwide, when he's only leading in Montana by 18 points? (in 2000, Bush won Montana by 25 points)

How can Gallup.....have Bush up by 13 nationwide, when he's behind Kerry by 15 points in California and 20 points in New York?

How can Gallup.....have Bush tied in the solid blue states (that is, the non-battleground blue states, so WI, MN, IO etc aren't included), when he is trailing Kerry by 15 points in California and 20 points in New York?

How can Gallup.....have Bush up by 13, when he's only leading among independents by 2 (and that was exactly Bush's margin among independents in 2000 when, as you recall, he did not win the popular vote by 13 points)?

Not only that, Bush's current margin among Republicans in the Gallup poll is not too far from his 2000 margin (93-6 now vs. 91-8 then) and Kerry's margin among Democrats is identical in magnitude to Gore's (85-10 now vs. 86-11 then).

Actually, this one is kind of easy. The only way you can produce a 13 point Bush lead with these internals is if you have quite a few more Republicans than Democrats in the sample--my guess is 7-8 points more. If you re-weight their sample to the 2000 exit poll party ID distribution (and I kind of have to do this, just to drive certain pollsters and their acolytes into a frenzy), you wind up with a modest Bush lead of 2 points.

See? This game is fun! Tell a friend about the "How Can Gallup....." game and add a little zing to your election season.