With the election in 3 days, we are seeing a continued narrative of a tied or very close race. If you read Media Matters, the explanation for this narrative is not that it is true, but that the media requires and in some sense produces a close race in order to , well, frankly, in order to increase sales.

Into this fray comes a new debate about whether in fact the race is close, and whether polling data is showing that it is close. Specifically, the reports of Five Thirty-Eight, run by Nate Silver, and now hosted at the New York Times. Silver’s data show that the race is heavily favoring Obama, who he says has a 4-in-5 chance of winning on Tuesday.

The 538 status of Nov. 3.

On the other hand are a bunch of commentators who are either saying that this is a close race…