Readers may have heard today the “news” that an internal Hutchison poll shows her 17 points down. I received a phone call early Friday morning about it. As it happens, I was meeting several Hutchison operatives for lunch at The Tavern, and I asked them about it, right off the bat. Their story: There was a rumor, born on Thursday, also at The Tavern, when someone supposedly heard other Hutchison operatives discussing the poll. So it is true that there was a rumor, which is not the same thing as the rumor being true. I think there is going to be a lot of disinformation in this campaign, probably most of it coming from Perry supporters. They are much more active in getting their stories out. But I am going to treat all these reports (except those from trusted friends) with great caution, and I am not going to get stampeded into publishing them. Except this once.