HuffPo creator talks fearlessly

NEWPORT BEACH — HuffingtonPost.com creator Arianna Huffington is hoping to spearhead a new trend: sending the political poll the way of horoscopes and betting lines.

Huffington said America is a country obsessed with polling results — especially just before November — at a Thursday-night event organized by Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties.

“We saw how accurate they were in New Hampshire, right? USA Today on Monday, before New Hampshire, had Barack Obama ahead by 13 points,” said Huffington, the keynote speaker for a celebration of the 35th anniversary of Roe V. Wade. “He lost by three points. That’s a 16-point swing. Now, I do not believe for a second that 16-point swing happened because Hillary Clinton got a little misty. It happened because the polls were all wrong.”

To that end, the Huffington Post has a new feature, “Huffpollstrology,” which displays the latest polling results along with horoscopes for the leading Democratic and Republican presidential contenders. It also displays the weather in the states with upcoming primaries, and the latest betting lines for the candidates.

Huffington gave a lively speech as an antecedent to her book signing. Huffington, who appears regularly on National Public Radio’s “Left, Right & Center,” recently published her latest book, “On Becoming Fearless.”

Costa Mesa Councilwoman Katrina Foley and Santa Ana Councilwoman Michele Martinez were two of about eight policy makers in attendance. California Assemblyman Jose Solorio was also present.

“For those of you who have not heard me before, this accent is for real,” said Huffington, who was born in Greece. “I say that because recently I was joking during a speech that I was really born in Fresno, and I calculated this accent to give myself an air of being an ethnic minority. Believe it or not, I received 37 e-mails from people asking me, ‘How exactly did you go about changing your accent?’ And two of them were from Fresno.

“So that gives you an idea of the gullibility of the American electorate, which explains why George Bush won a second term in office.”

However, Huffington warned later that the Democrats could still find a way to bungle an election in a year when Americans have expressed reservations over the continuing war in Iraq and the country’s weakening economy. She felt the key issue of the general election was still likely to be national security.

“I think that basically, Democrats need to realize this is still going to be a national security election,” Huffington said. “Even though the economy is not doing well, they have to clear the bar with national security because we in ’04, Bush got reelected because enough of the American people thought he would keep us safe.”

SORAYA NADIA MCDONALD is a staff writer. She can be reached at (714) 966-4613 or by e-mail at soraya.mcdonald@latimes.com.