The finish line is in sight (we hope). So now we turn to quirky predictors

It always amuses me to learn of trivial little actions that some people like to believe predicts the outcome of a presidential election.

ROMNEY: Should he have rooted for Yanks?

Such as those individuals who believe the fact that the Washington Redskins’ defeat on Sunday means that President Barack Obama will lose come Tuesday.

FOR IT SEEMS that some people believe if the Redskins win their home game before Election Day, then the incumbent wins. President-elect Mitt Romney, anyone?

Not so fast. For there’s the VOTES Project, which is a mock election that has been held along the northeast at high schools to try to educate students in a practical way about how the election process works.

Supposedly, it has been correct every year since 1988 (except for 2004, when it guessed that we’d get “President John Kerry”).

This year, it resulted in Obama getting 316 electoral votes, compared to 208 for Romney. It also threw in a reality check in the form of the storm known as Sandy, which caused students at five high schools to be unable to cast votes.

WHICH MEANS THERE are 14 electoral votes that nobody gets!

So who should we trust, the high school kids, or the Washington Redskins?

Or perhaps we should be focusing on the Carolina Panthers – the team that beat the Redskins 21-13 on Sunday.

OBAMA: Giants fan, and Redskins basher?

The campaigns thought that North Carolina’s electoral votes would be up for grabs and that Barack Obama might actually have a chance of taking that southern state. It seems we should have been paying attention to the professional gridiron, instead of anything said at the convention held in Charlotte.

NOW, OF COURSE, anybody with sense realizes this is a batch of nonsense. One could probably find just about anything that matches up with election cycles in a way that makes them appear to be reliable predictors.

And while I realize the overly-religious amongst us are going to take offense at this next statement, it is a big coincidence! I’d really like to think that God, in whatever form he exists, has better things to do than worry about who wins an earth-bound election.

So I don’t think that a heavenly spirit is in any way giving the Redskins or these high school kids or any other human entity the ability to predict how an election will turn out.

That is up to the voters who bother to take the time to cast ballots. And as for those who speculate that votes will be lost due to weather damage caused by Sandy, I believe that those individuals determined enough to make a difference WILL find a way to vote.

BESIDES, WE ALL ought to know that the only true predictor lies within professional baseball.

It seems that when American League teams win the World Series in an election year, the Republican candidate prevails. While World Series champions from the National League benefit the Democratic Party candidate.

The ultimate Republican hero?



Although that is mostly because of the presence of the New York Yankees in the American League. It seems that the Yankees do well by Republican presidential candidates – thereby boosting the number of American League victories overall.

That wouldn’t be a factor in this year’s elections, since the Yankees managed to get knocked out of the playoffs by the same Detroit Tigers who got whomped on by the San Francisco Giants.

SO DOES THAT mean Obama will have extra special reason to invite the Giants to the White House next year for the traditional championship celebration?

And should he be grateful that the “fans” of U.S. Steel didn’t get the chance to see their favorite ballclub win its 28^th World Series title.

  -30-