According to President Obama, government health insurance will create competition in the health insurance industry. It simply would provide another alternative to existing plans offered by private companies, the argument goes. Like many Americans, we simply don’t believe it. Whenever the government enters into a market, it will try to expand its share and take over the sector.

Yesterday The Washington Post gave front page coverage to its poll in the Virginia governor race with a graphic that gave the impression that the Republican candidate was only ahead by a 47%-40% margin.

True, but misleading. If you read further into the story, you could see that the GOP candidate had a lead of “54 to 39 percent, among those who say they are certain to vote in November.”

That number is a far more accurate depiction of where the race stands today, and even that may understate the Republican’s current lead.