Taking the internet a little too seriously?

When the Main Independent Journal first decided to poll its readers on their preference for D3 State Senate candidates with a simply-scripted widget, I knew it would be trouble. Throwing around the results of poorly conducted unofficial polls that leave no room for an accountability audit is like wasting perfectly good tequila on an already roaring fire. Lo and behold: evidence that the Leno camp, full of paranoid glory, cheated by removing cookies and voting multiple times. A pol cheating on an internet public opinion poll to skew the results, to further infuriate his opponent? Oh no! (Very tempted to write "oh noes" here, btw.) Who could have thought?! Just how threatened must one feel to resort to throwing out nonsense like "In the 'is she really still here?' category" about an online tool with fictional results (provided by similar online tools)?

From the real world, here, where real results and not internet media scares drive campaigns: Carole is getting plenty of positive responses, plenty more than her termed-out opponents... from real people, each with an address and a voter ID and a voice. Not guys that have nothing better to do than vote all day on an online poll.