The Associated Press (AP) College Poll refers to weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling sportswriters across the nation. Each voter provides his own ranking of the top 25 teams, and the individual rankings are then combined to produce the national ranking by giving a team 25 points for a first place vote, 24 for a second place vote, and so on down to 1 point for a twenty-fifth place vote. Ballots of the voting members in the AP Poll are made public.^{[1][dead link]}

College football[link]

History[link]

The AP college football poll has a long history. The news media began running their own polls of sports writers to determine who was, by popular opinion, the best football team in the country at the end of the season. One of the earliest such polls was the AP College Football Poll, first run in 1934^{[2][dead link]} (compiled and organized by Charles Woodroof, former SEC Assistant Director of Media Relations) and then continuously from 1936.^{[3][dead link]} Due to the long-standing historical ties between individual college football conferences and high-paying bowl games like the Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl, the NCAA has never held a tournament or championship game to determine the champion of what is now the highest division, NCAA Division I, Football Bowl Subdivision (the Division I, Football Championship Subdivision and lower divisions do hold championship tournaments). As a result, the public and the media began to take the leading vote-getter in the final AP Poll as the national champion for that season.

While the AP Poll currently lists the Top 25 teams in the nation, from 1936 to 1961 the wire service only ranked 20 teams. And from 1962 to 1967 only 10 teams were recognized. From 1968 to 1988, the AP again resumed its Top 20 before expanding to 25 teams in 1989.

At the end of the 1947 season when the AP released an unofficial post-bowl poll which differed from the regular season final poll.^[4] Until 1968 college football season, the final AP poll of the season was released following the end of the regular season, with the exception of the 1965 season. In 1964, Alabama was named the national champion in the final AP Poll following the completion of the regular season, but lost in the Orange Bowl to Texas, leaving Arkansas as the only undefeated, untied team after the Razorbacks defeated Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl Classic. In 1965, the AP's decision to wait to crown its champion paid handsomely, as top-ranked Michigan State lost to UCLA in the Rose Bowl, number two Arkansas lost to LSU in the Cotton Bowl Classic, and fourth-ranked Alabama defeated third-ranked Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, vaulting the Crimson Tide to the top of the AP's final poll (Michigan State was named national champion in the final UPI Coaches Poll, which did not conduct a post-bowl poll).

Beginning in the 1968 season, the post bowl game poll became permanent and the AP championship reflected the bowl game results. The UPI did not follow suit with the coaches' poll until the 1974 season.

No. 1 vs. No. 2[link]

As of January 9, 2012, the number one ranked team has faced the number two ranked team 47 times since the inception of the AP Poll in 1936.^[5] The number one team is 27-18-2 against the number two team.^[5]

AP Poll inclusion in the BCS[link]

In 1997, the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was developed to try to unify the poll results by picking two teams for a "real" national championship game. For the first several years the AP Poll factored in the determination of the BCS rankings, along with other factors including the Coaches Poll and computer-based polls. Because of a series of controversies surrounding the BCS, the AP demanded in December, 2004, that its poll no longer be used in the BCS rankings,^[6] and so the 2004-2005 season was the last season that the AP Poll was used for this purpose.

In the 2003 season the BCS system broke down when the final BCS standings ranked the University of Southern California (USC) at #3 while the two human polls in the system had ranked USC at #1. As a result, USC did not play in the BCS' designated national championship game. After defeating another highly ranked team, Michigan, in its final game, the AP Poll kept USC at #1 while the Coaches Poll was contractually obligated to select the winner of the BCS game, Louisiana State University (LSU), as the #1 team. The resulting split national title was the very problem that the BCS was created to solve, and has been widely considered an embarrassment.^[7]

In 2004, a new controversy erupted at the end of the season when Auburn and Utah, who both finished the regular season 12-0, were left out of the BCS title game in favor of Oklahoma who also was 12-0 and had won decisively over Colorado in the Big 12 Championship game. USC went on to a win easily over Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl while Auburn and Utah both won their bowl games, leaving three undefeated teams at the end of the season. Also, in that same year, Texas made up late ground on California (Cal) in the BCS standings and as a result grabbed a high-payout, at-large spot in the Rose Bowl. Previous to that poll, Cal had been ranked ahead of Texas in both human polls and the BCS poll. Going into their final game, the Golden Bears were made aware that while margin of victory did not affect computer rankings, it did affect human polls and just eight voters changing their vote could affect the final standings.^[8] Both teams won their game that week, but the Texas coach, Mack Brown, had made a public effort to lobby for his team to be moved higher in the ranking. When the human polls were released, Texas remained behind Cal, but it had closed the gap enough so that the BCS poll (which determines placement) placed Texas above Cal, angering both Cal and its conference, the Pac-10.^[9] The final poll positions had been unchanged with Cal at #4 AP, #4 coaches, and #6 computers polls and Texas at #6 AP, #5 coaches, and #4 computer polls.^[9] The AP Poll voters were caught in the middle because their vote changes were automatically made public, while the votes of the Coaches poll were kept confidential. Although there had been a more substantial shift in the votes of the Coaches Poll, the only clear targets for the ire of fanatical fans were the voters in the AP Poll. While officials from both Cal and the Pac-10 called for the coaches' votes to be made public, the overtures were turned down and did little to solve the problem of AP voters. Cal went on to lose to Texas Tech in the Holiday Bowl. Texas defeated Michigan in the Rose Bowl.

Many members of the press who voted in the AP Poll were upset by the fiasco and, at the behest of its members, the AP asked that its poll no longer be used in the BCS rankings. The 2004 season was the last season that the AP Poll was used in the BCS rankings, it was replaced in the BCS equation by the newly created Harris Interactive College Football Poll.^[10]

Final AP football polls[link]

Other media football polls[link]

The AP Poll is not the only college football poll. The other major poll is the Coaches Poll, which has been sponsored by several organizations: the United Press (1950–1957), the United Press International (1958–1990), USA Today (1991–present), CNN (1991–1996), and ESPN (1997–2005). Having two major polls has led to numerous "split" national titles, where the two polls disagreed on the #1 team. This has occurred on eleven different occasions (1954, 1957, 1965, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1990, 1991, 1997, 2003).

College basketball[link]

The AP began compiling a ranking of the top 20 college men's basketball teams during the 1948-1949 season. It has issued this poll continuously since the 1950-1951 season. The women's basketball poll began during the 1976-1977 season, and was initially published by The Philadelphia Inquirer.

In Division I men's and women's college basketball, the AP Poll is largely just a tool to compare schools throughout the season and spark debate, as it has no bearing on postseason play. Generally, all top 25 teams in the poll are invited to the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournament, also known as March Madness. The poll is released every Monday and voters' ballots are made public.^[11]

See also[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Associated Press Top 25 College Football Poll at Sports Illustrated
• The Associated Press Top 25 Men's College Basketball Poll at Sports Illustrated
• Archive of all AP weekly polls for football and men's/women's basketball
• List of all Final AP football Poll results and champions
• Archive of all weekly AP ballots since 2007
• AP Football Poll voters
• AP Men's Basketball Poll voters
• AP Women's Basketball Poll voters

Look up poll or polling in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Poll, polled or polling may refer to:

Figurative head counts[link]

• Polling, voting
• Show of hands, voting
• Opinion poll
• The polls, polling places
• Poll, an election

Mathematics, science, and technology[link]

• Polling (computer science), polling loops

Other[link]

• Poll (livestock), the top of the head
• Polled livestock, hornless livestock of normally horned species
• Polling, livestock dehorning
• Polling or pollarding, cutting the upper part of a tree and allowing it to regrow
• Polling (metallurgy), removing oxides when refining a metal
• Polling (fad), standing up with arms to the sides in unusual public spaces
• The German title for the 2010 film The Poll Diaries

People[link]

• Max Poll (1908-1991), Belgian ichthyologist
• Graham Poll (born 1963), British referee
• Silvia Poll Ahrens (born 1970), Central American swimmer – with Olympic medal
• Claudia Poll (born 1972), Central American swimmer – with Olympic gold medal

Places[link]

• Poll (Cologne), a quarter of Cologne, Germany
• Towns in Bavaria, Germany
  • Polling, Mühldorf
  • Polling, Weilheim-Schongau
• Municipalities in Austria
  • Polling in Tirol
  • Polling im Innkreis, in Upper Austria

See also[link]

• Pohl (disambiguation)
• Pohle (disambiguation)
• Pole (disambiguation)
• Pollard (disambiguation)
• Polly (disambiguation)
• Paul (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2011)

Jeanine Ferris Pirro (born June 2, 1951) is a former prosecutor, judge, and elected official from the state of New York, who is currently a legal analyst and television personality. A Republican from Westchester County, Pirro served as a county court judge before serving as the elected District Attorney of Westchester County for 12 years. As a district attorney she gained considerable visibility, especially in cases regarding domestic abuse and crimes against the elderly. She was the first female judge on the Westchester County Court bench.

Pirro was the Republican nominee for New York State Attorney General in 2006, losing to Democrat Andrew Cuomo (a fellow Albany Law alumnus). She also held the nominations of the New York Conservative and Independence Parties. She previously sought the nominations of her party for the offices of New York State Lieutenant Governor and United States Senator and withdrew her name in each case. She was a regular contributor to The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet. She is currently contributing to Today, Fox NY Good Day New York, is a Fox News legal analyst appearing on various shows, and has guest hosted shows such as Larry King Live, The Joy Behar Show and Geraldo at Large. She is a frequent guest on Fox's late-night satire show Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld, and also currently hosts a television program entitled Judge Jeanine Pirro. In May 2010, the show received its first Emmy nomination. Pirro is also the host of Fox News Channel's Justice with Judge Jeanine which premiered in January 2011. In 2011, Judge Pirro received the daytime Emmy Award for her TV court show "Judge Pirro."

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Pirro was born in Elmira, New York, to Nasser "Leo" and Esther Ferris. Her father was a mobile-home salesman; her mother, a department-store model. She is a Catholic of Lebanese descent.^[1]

She graduated from Notre Dame High School in three years rather than the usual four.^[2] She then graduated from the University at Buffalo. She received her J.D. degree at Albany Law School in 1975.

Marriage[link]

Jeanine Ferris married Albert Pirro in 1975. She was reported as being separated from her husband in a December 6, 2009 article in The New York Times.^[3]

Westchester County positions[link]

In 1978, Pirro became an assistant district attorney in Westchester County.

In 1986, GOP gubernatorial candidate Andrew O’Rourke selected Pirro to be his running mate in the campaign. Allegations surfaced about her husband's business dealings and his refusal to release information about his financial life. Pirro pulled out of the race and journalists later revealed her husband’s alleged ties to organized crime.

In 1989, she became a judge on the Westchester County Court, the first female to hold such a position.

In 1993, Pirro was elected district attorney of Westchester County, again the first female to hold that position.^[4] She was re-elected in 1997 and 2001. Prosecuting murder, rape, domestic violence, and other cases, Pirro achieved considerable fame and media visibility, appearing on television programs such as Larry King Live and Nightline. People magazine named her as one of its 50 Most Beautiful People in 1997.^[5]

In 1997 she chaired the New York State Commission on Domestic Violence Fatalities, whose report and recommendations resulted in legislation passing that enhanced protections of, and safeguards for, the victims of domestic abuse.

On May 23, 2005 Pirro announced that she would not seek re-election as Westchester Country District Attorney.^[6]

During her time in Westchester, it has been confirmed that Pirro met with Douglas Durst in regards to the 1982 disappearance of his sister in law, Kathie Durst. It has been speculated that this meeting put a stop to the reinvigorated search for Kathie and investigation into her death, which was largely thought to be at the hands of Robert Durst, Kathie's husband and Douglas' brother. This meeting was said to be mutually beneficial for Pirro's political and media career as well as for the Durst Corporation.

2006 U.S. Senate campaign[link]

On August 10, 2005 in New York City, Pirro announced that she would seek the Republican nomination to challenge first-term incumbent Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, a Democrat, in the 2006 election for U.S. Senator from New York.

Other Republicans who announced campaigns for the nomination were John Spencer, a former mayor of Yonkers, William Brenner, an attorney in Sullivan County, and attorney Edward Cox, the son-in-law of former President Richard Nixon.

During an appearance at the Crime Victims Resource Center, Pirro described herself this way: "I am red on fiscal policy. I am conservative and I support the Bush tax cut." She added, however: "I have broad blue stripes when it comes to social issues... I am a woman who is a moderate in New York." ^[7]

Republican Governor George Pataki's endorsement of Pirro caused Cox to withdraw from the race,^[8] leaving Pirro as the likely nominee. On December 21, 2005, after continuing pressure from party chiefs, a lagging fundraising effort, and polls showing she would be defeated by Clinton (a Quinnipiac University poll found Pirro would lose to Clinton 62 percent to 30 percent), Jeanine Pirro dropped out of the Senate race just two months after she started her campaign. "I have decided that my law enforcement background better qualifies me for a race for New York State attorney general than a race for the United States Senate," she said in a statement.^[9]

Donors to the political campaigns of Jeanine Pirro have included designer Tommy Hilfiger (also a native of Elmira), Donald Trump and numerous contractors and real estate executives who have done business with her husband.^{[citation needed]}

2006 State Attorney General campaign[link]

On May 31, 2006, Pirro, unopposed for the GOP nomination, became the party's official candidate by acclamation at the GOP convention.^[10] However, in the general election, Pirro lost to the Democratic nominee, former Clinton Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo.^[11]

Judge Jeanine Pirro on The CW[link]

On May 5, 2008, The CW announced that Pirro would host a weekday television show to be named Judge Jeanine Pirro, part of the network's CW Daytime lineup and that features two episodes airing daily. The show is distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television and is by default carried by all CW affiliates.^[12]

Judge Jeanine Pirro has been cleared for a second season beginning in fall 2009. Unlike its first season, the second season launching fall 2009 was not exclusive to CW affiliates.^[13]

References[link]

Sources and further reading[link]

• Healy, Patrick D. "Democrats Push Rival to Repay Security Costs." New York Times. August 3, 2005.
• Kovaleski, Serge F. "In Sex Arrests Hailed by Pirro, Little Jail Time." New York Times. October 13, 2006.
• "Pirro Takes Aim at Clinton's Job". Newsday, August 9, 2005.

External links[link]

• The Jeanine Machine A frank biography by S. Richard Blassberg
• New York Elections, informedandenfranchised.com
• Westchester County District Attorney's Office official website As of January 2006^[update], Janet DiFiore holds this office.
• Jeanine Pirro for Attorney General official website
• Jeanine Pirro official website

Andrew Napolitano
Andrew Napolitano at CPAC in February 2010.
Judge of the New Jersey Superior Court
In office 1987–1995
Appointed by	Thomas Kean
Personal details
Born	Andrew Paolo Napolitano (1950-06-06) June 6, 1950 (age 62) Newark, New Jersey, United States
Alma mater	Princeton University Notre Dame Law School
Occupation	Judge Attorney Media Personality
Religion	Roman Catholic
Website	Biography on FoxNews.com

Andrew Paolo Napolitano (born June 6, 1950) is a former New Jersey Superior Court Judge. He is a political and senior judicial analyst for Fox News Channel, commenting on legal news and trials. Napolitano started on the channel in 1998.

Early life, judicial and academic career[link]

Napolitano was born in Newark, New Jersey. He is a graduate of Princeton University (he was a founding member of the Concerned Alumni of Princeton^[1]) and Notre Dame Law School. Napolitano sat on the New Jersey bench from 1987 to 1995, becoming the state's youngest then-sitting Superior Court judge. He also served as an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University School of Law for 11 years. Napolitano resigned his judgeship in 1995 to pursue his writing and television career.

Media career[link]

Prior to joining Fox as a news analyst, Napolitano was the presiding judge on the television show, Power of Attorney, in which people brought small-claims disputes to a televised courtroom. Differing from similar formats, the plaintiffs and defendants were represented "pro bono" by famous attorneys. The show ran in syndication during the 2000–2001 season.

From 2006 to 2010, Napolitano co-hosted a talk radio show on Fox News Radio with Brian Kilmeade titled Brian and the Judge.

Napolitano hosted a libertarian talk show called Freedom Watch that aired daily, with new episodes on weekdays, on Fox Business Channel.^[2] Frequent guests on Freedom Watch were Congressman Ron Paul, economist^{[citation needed]} Peter Schiff, and Lew Rockwell. Napolitano has called himself the "Ayn Rand of Fox News" and has also promoted the works of Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman and Ludwig von Mises on his program. The show originally aired once a week on Wednesdays at 2:00 pm on Fox News' Strategy Room. On September 14, 2009 it became a show that airs three to four times a week. On June 12, 2010 it debuted as a weekly show on Fox Business. The show was dropped along with several programs in February 2012 when FBN revamped its entire primetime lineup.^[3]

Napolitano regularly substituted for television host Glenn Beck when Beck was absent from his program. After Beck announced he would be leaving Fox News, he asked Napolitano to replace him.^[4]

Writing career[link]

In 2004, Napolitano wrote the book, Constitutional Chaos: What Happens When the Government Breaks its Own Laws, a criticism of the American justice system.

In 2006, his second book, The Constitution in Exile: How the Federal Government Has Seized Power by Rewriting the Supreme Law of the Land was published.

A third book, A Nation of Sheep, was released in October 2007.

In April 2009, Napolitano's fourth book, Dred Scott's Revenge: A Legal History of Race and Freedom in America, was released.

In March, 2010, Napolitano's fifth book was released: Lies the Government Told You: Myth, Power, and Deception in American History.

In October, 2011, Napolitano's sixth book was released: It is Dangerous to be Right When the Government is Wrong: The Case for Personal Freedom.

Politics[link]

Napolitano is a pro-life libertarian, more commonly known as libertarian conservatism.^[5]

He is a strong advocate of the Constitution, viewing it as a contract that must, according to rule of law, be interpreted the way its authors intended or else be invalid. He therefore asserts that the Federal government has a very limited set of powers, that it is exceeding, and that the Bill of Rights limits its valid actions in all circumstances.

The Constitution applies to persons, not just citizens. If you read the Constitution, its protections are not limited to Americans. And that was written intentionally, because at the time it was written, they didn't know what Native Americans would be. When the post civil war amendments were added, they didn't know how blacks would be considered, because they had a decision of the Supreme Court called Dred Scott, that said blacks are not persons. So in order to make sure the Constitution protected every human being: American, alien; citizen, non-citizen; lawful combatant, enemy combatant; innocent, guilty; those who wish us well, those who wish us ill...they use the broadest possible language, to make it clear: Wherever the government goes, the Constitution goes, and wherever the Constitution goes, the protections that it guarantees restrain the government and requires it to protect those rights.

• Judge Andrew Napolitano & Alan Colmes discuss Gitmo, discussing the Supreme Court rulings on the scope of the protections in the Constitution.

Napolitano has called consumer advocate and frequent presidential candidate Ralph Nader a hero of his.^[6]

Napolitano believes that the 9/11 incidents including the subsequent collapse of the World Trade Tower buildings in New York City did not take place as the US government has publicly communicated. “It's "hard for me to believe that" World Trade Center building 7 "came down by itself," said Napolitano, “twenty years from now, people will look at 9-11 the way we look at the assassination of JFK today. It couldn't possibly have been done the way the government told us."^[7]

Personal[link]

Napolitano splits his time living in Manhattan and Sussex County, New Jersey where he owns a farm that produces maple syrup.^[8]

Napolitano is not related to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, whom he sometimes jokingly calls "Cousin Janet."^{[citation needed]}

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

• Freedom Watch With the Judge
• Judge Andrew P. Napolitano website
• Brian and The Judge
• Judge Andew P. Napolitano's bio at foxnews.com
• Andrew Napolitano at the Internet Movie Database
• Draft Judge Andrew P. Napolitano website
• The Judge's Farm – Vine Hill

Stuart Varney (born July 7, 1949)^[1] is a British-American economic journalist, and as of 2011, working for the Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Network. Varney joined Fox News in January, 2004 as a business contributor on many shows, such as Your World with Neil Cavuto. He also occasionally serves as guest host for Your World and the shows on the Cost of Freedom business block. Varney graduated from the London School of Economics.^[1] He began his broadcast journalism career at KEMO-TV (now KOFY-TV) in San Francisco.^[2] In 1980 he joined the Manhattan bureau of the newly founded CNN and hosted shows like Business Day and Business Asia.^[1][2] From 1999 to 2001, he hosted CNN’s Moneyline with Willow Bay and has also worked for CNBC. Varney is a regular panel member on the FOX business analysis and stock trade investment program Cashin' In.

Varney now hosts the show, "Varney & Co." on the Fox Business Network, which airs from 9:20 to 11 a.m. every weekday. Along with Varney, the show is also co-hosted by Charles Payne, Tracy Byrnes and Chris Cotter.

Varney grew up in Derby, Derbyshire, England and has lived in the United States since 1974. Previously living in Wyckoff, New Jersey, he has lived in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey since 1994. He is married and has six children.^[1]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bio on FoxNews.com
• Bio on FoxBusiness.com