Next to a nice picture of the Syrians departing Lebanon, the Washington Post tops its front page with a new poll showing 66 percent of those surveyed opposing “changing Senate rules to make it easier for the Republicans to confirm Bush’s judicial nominees.” Only 26 percent support it, including only half the Republicans. The first thing that should be said about this result: how much do the American people know about the circuit-court confirmation process? How many news stories has ABC or the Washington Post done on it? As a general rule, television news can’t manage more than a thimble full of coverage about a judicial nomination below the Supreme Court, conservative or liberal. See the Miguel Estrada fight, for example.

This disturbs the usual pattern of network polling, after weeks of intensive liberal bias, in which the networks hope to discover confirmation that their bias has won the day for liberal arguments. But it should be noted that NBC’s poll is much less dramatic (and more explanatory in its question), finding a 50-40 split on the filibuster.