Rick Kaplan may be gone as its boss, but the ties between CNN and the Clinton Political Family have returned, thanks to major Clinton benefactor Vinod Gupta, who recently purchased the polling firm Opinion Research Corporation, soon after it landed the contract to do polling for CNN. Gupta founded and controls InfoUSA, which has also paid millions in conulting fees to Bill Clinton.  Newsmax reports:

Opinion Research began conducting polls for CNN in April 2006, according to TheDeal.com. A month after InfoUSA closed on its purchase of the polling company in December, CNN and Opinion Research announced a 2-year partnership, with Opinion Research conducting political polling for CNN through next year's election.

In an e-mail statement, Opinion Research President Jeff Resnick defended the company's work for CNN: "Each week, great care is taken to ensure the poll results are accurate and free from any bias. An examination of the poll results will support this statement."

But Bruce Weinstein, who writes an ethics column for BusinessWeek.com, said just the perception of a potential conflict of interest could hurt a media organization's credibility.