I’m frequently asked whether polls affect election outcomes. My typical response is, “Not really.” Writing Monday, before the Massachusetts outcome is known, I just may have found a race that was dramatically affected by polling.

At the end of December, the Boston Herald ran a story headlined, “GOP Lets Scott Brown Fend for Himself.” Just 20 days ago the Herald reported, “Senate candidate Scott Brown has been all but abandoned by the same national Republican committees that pumped hundreds of thousands in campaign cash to