Rumors have it that 6th District Congressional candidate, John McCallum (boy, we hope we're spelling his name correctly) officially withdrew from the race yesterday (Wednesday) and endorsed Chuck Clay for the slot. McCallum cited the reason for his withdrawal was that 1) he felt he needed to spend more time with his kids, a two year-old and a three year-old, 2) he himself may be too young to run for it, and 3) this was not the time for him to run.

PV Ponders This New Situation: Hmmmmm...wasn't it just two weeks ago that there was this big rah-rah announcement that top-notch talent like media wiz Fred Davis and top-notch GOP fundraising babe, Tamara Hyatt, was joining his team? Sumpin' ain't quite right here...

We hope McCallum's decision was not due to the (cough! cough!) "poll" results released last week by the polling firm owned by Whit "What-would-you-like-these-numbers-to-say" Ayres and Jon "If-we-choose-a-big-enough-error-we'll-be-in-the-ballpark-of-believability" McHenry last week. Those numbers showed Chuck Clay with a commanding lead of 17% over Tom Price's 12%, Roger Hines' 5%, Robert Lamutt's 5%, and John McCallum's 2%.

The poll surveyed 300 likely GOP primary voters with an error of +/- 5.7%. Sixty percent of the poll was "undecided."

Now, before anyone goes off half-cocked against the PV for our somewhat sarcastic view of Ayres, McHenry, look at it from our point of view: It was Ayres, McHenry who pumped-up poll results and laid-out an exquisite analysis (we read their report...it was beautiful fiction) that gave Bill Byrne a bit too rosy of an outlook on his candidacy for governor last year.

The biggest FUBAR polling performed by Ayres, McHenry in recent times was not Bill Byrne, but Bob Barr. Their numbers consistently showed Barr significantly ahead of John Linder, while Linder's polls showed him consistently ahead of Barr.

The difference? The big difference between the two campaigns' polling methods was that Linder kept using different pollsters throughout his campaign while Barr stuck with Ayres, McHenry. Linder kept experiencing the same results using different pollsters, which meant his results were more reliable. Barr kept using the pie-in-the-sky polling results of Ayres, McHenry and was hit with a shockwave on Primary Night 2002.

We are neutral in the 6th District race. But, as we've warned Chuck Clay before, we advise him (and other candidates) about relying on the polling results of Ayres, McHenry. We'd be more inclined to believe what any fortune teller in the Metro Atlanta Yellow Pages would say instead.