How bad is AP’s political coverage? Read the headline and first couple of grafs of this article and see for yourself:

Clinton, McCain ‘Gorillas’ of 2008 Race

by Ron Fournier, AP Politcal Writer

WASHINGTON – If you want to be the next president, it’s time to start running — unless your name is Hillary Rodham Clinton or John McCain. They can wait. And wait, as front-runners tend to do.

“They’re 800-pound gorillas,” says Democratic consultant Jeff Link of Iowa. “They’re well-known, well-liked and will be heavy favorites in their respective parties.”

I’d like to see the look on Fournier’s face when the South Carolina GOP primary results come in.

(Hat tip: Jayson at PoliPundit.)

Update: TradeSports says McCain has only about a 1 in 6 chance of winning the GOP nomination in ’08. Virginia Sen. George Allen is rated a slight favorite. Who do you trust more: Fournier or gamblers who are putting their own money on the line? (Via Free Republic.)

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Power Line has been tracking AP’s bias and sloppiness for some time now:
- The Associated Press and its sources
- The Associated Press makes it up
- The crowd that didn’t boo
- Associated Press continues to stonewall
- The Associated Press twists the truth
- Another whopper from the Associated Press
- The Asscociated Press spins the ISG report
- How the Associated Press operates
- Associated Press serves Democrats’ agenda
- Associated Press spins the news