Let’s make Election Day Interesting: Everybody into the Pool

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

I’m starting a pool to predict the results of the Presidential election.

Entering is easy: Predict the split of the Electoral votes between Barack Obama and John McCain. For those who don’t remember off the top of their heads, there are 538 electoral votes total up for grabs, and 270 are required for the presidency.

I’m talking about a final determination as reported by a reliable news source such as the Associated Press, whenever that may be.

Guess how many Obama gets and how many McCain gets. If two people guess the same division, then the person who posted it first has dibs. If you see that someone already beat you to it, then feel free to choose another. One acceptable guess per person. Don’t get cute and start inventing various names and making multiple guesses; trust me, I’ll figure it out and just delete all of them.

What does the winner get? A signed copy of the first issue of “Sir Apropos of Nothing” from IDW. And somewhere right now Elayne Riggs is saying, “Great, just what I need.”

Go to it, kids.

PAD

309 comments on “Let’s make Election Day Interesting: Everybody into the Pool”

  4. Considering ACORN, “vote early and vote often” isn’t as funny this year as it usually is.

    Anyway, the obvious joke temptation is to post something that doesn’t add up to 538, but I’d at least like the possibility of winning. (A thought that goes through a lot of people’s minds on election day…) Put me down for McCain 278, Obama 260.

    – Z

  5. Pete? According to last night’s Yahoo Dashboard map and the calculator map that somebody uptopic gave us a link to, even if Obama loses Florida, he wins by twenty-one votes. This assumes that the undecided states of Vermont, Maryland, Idaho and Hawaii all swing Republican. If they go Dem, he’s got 315.

    If he takes all the battleground states, it’s 390.

    It’d be funny as hëll if he took Arizona, Texas and Alaska. That’d send a lovely message.

    Give Kathleen a hug. My love to the kids.

    Miles

  6. Pete? According to last night’s Yahoo Dashboard map and the calculator map that somebody uptopic gave us a link to, even if Obama loses Florida, he wins by twenty-one votes. This assumes that the undecided states of Vermont, Maryland, Idaho and Hawaii all swing Republican. If they go Dem, he’s got 315.

    If he takes all the battleground states, it’s 390.

    It’d be funny as hëll if he took Arizona, Texas and Alaska. That’d send a lovely message.

    Give Kathleen a hug. My love to the kids.

    Miles

  7. McCain- 272, Obama- 266

    The number if McCain wins Florida, North Carolina, Missouri, Ohio, and Pennsylvania; and loses Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia, and one electoral vote in Nebraska.

  10. Hmmm…
    It seems a lot of the more sensible choices have been selected. So I’m giving Obama “the full Nixon”.
    Obama – 535
    McCain – 3
    Every state but one decidedly partisan one, in this case, Alaska.
    Now, has anyone seen my blue ring?

  15. Obama: 381
    McCain: 157

    (This assumes all the undecideds flip Obama. I’d really love a 394/144 split where Obama also wins Alaska and Arizona, but I’m not expecting it. If someone wants these numbers, they can have them.)

  18. Has any President even been elected like that? I seem to remember Reagan pounded the living hëll out Mondale by an obscene margin (I think it was that race), but don’t recall the exact numbers.

  21. Bladestar –

    In that election, Reagan got 525 Electoral Votes, while Mondale only got 13.

    He carried his home state of Minnesota (my state) by about 3,000 votes, and the District of Columbia.

  22. Bladestar –

    In that election, Reagan got 525 Electoral Votes, while Mondale only got 13.

    He carried his home state of Minnesota (my state) by about 3,000 votes, and the District of Columbia.

  23. Obama: 373
    McCain: 165

    (I actually think it’s more likely to be 370-168, but someone already took that)

  27. Looks closer than I thought but PA looks like it will stay Obama and North Carolina may put him over the top. If not that, then Florida.

    Not the landslide some predicted but a comfortable win. Doesn’t look like the Democrats will get to 60 in the senate, which is probably all to the good. Too much power makes you stupid.

  28. Looks closer than I thought but PA looks like it will stay Obama and North Carolina may put him over the top. If not that, then Florida.

    Not the landslide some predicted but a comfortable win. Doesn’t look like the Democrats will get to 60 in the senate, which is probably all to the good. Too much power makes you stupid.

  29. Penn. and Ohio to Obama. With the West Coast, that only puts Obama a couple of EV’s short, with any numbers of states when Obama would only need one to win.

    And NBC is calling New Mexico to Obama.

    It’s over.

    Obama is President-Elect.

  31. And NBC is calling New Mexico to Obama.

    Yeah, but I wanna know how and why they did. When they called it the votes were something like 62/37 for McCain and they’ve not moved much since then. Unless something really wild happens we’re going to see New Mexico flip to McCain by midnight.

  32. And NBC is calling New Mexico to Obama.

    Yeah, but I wanna know how and why they did. When they called it the votes were something like 62/37 for McCain and they’ve not moved much since then. Unless something really wild happens we’re going to see New Mexico flip to McCain by midnight.

  35. Thanks for the tips, I wonder if we’ll ever see a shutout before we finally get rid of the archaic Electoral College….

  36. Thanks for the tips, I wonder if we’ll ever see a shutout before we finally get rid of the archaic Electoral College….

  37. Unless something really wild happens we’re going to see New Mexico flip to McCain by midnight.

    Not that it matters much, with the other states that will go to Obama, but the same was done with Georgia, where Obama early on was leading by a number of votes, but the state was still called for McCain.

    They’re still going on a mix of exit polling and actual votes counted.

  38. Jerry, New Mexico won’t flip. That 62/37 comes from the actual poll results, of which there are very few. The reason the number haven’t changed is because no new results have come in.

    They called it for Obama because of exit polls. They only do that when the exit polls are so far in one direction that there’s no chance of them being wrong. The polling for New Mexico has been way out ahead for Obama for months and months. All we’re seeing right now is that the first 5% of polling places to count their votes were in McCain areas. That won’t be enough, there won’t be a flip.

  39. Jerry, New Mexico won’t flip. That 62/37 comes from the actual poll results, of which there are very few. The reason the number haven’t changed is because no new results have come in.

    They called it for Obama because of exit polls. They only do that when the exit polls are so far in one direction that there’s no chance of them being wrong. The polling for New Mexico has been way out ahead for Obama for months and months. All we’re seeing right now is that the first 5% of polling places to count their votes were in McCain areas. That won’t be enough, there won’t be a flip.

  40. “Thanks for the tips, I wonder if we’ll ever see a shutout before we finally get rid of the archaic Electoral College….”

    Likely won’t see it in my lifetime…

  41. “Thanks for the tips, I wonder if we’ll ever see a shutout before we finally get rid of the archaic Electoral College….”

    Likely won’t see it in my lifetime…

  43. Not that it matter much but there are only about 3000 votes difference here between the two in North carolina.

    Dole got creamed.

  44. Not that it matter much but there are only about 3000 votes difference here between the two in North carolina.

    Dole got creamed.

  45. Well, even Fox News called the race for Obama at 11:00 PM.

    History marches on and another brick in a very old wall has fallen to the ground and crumbled to dust.

  46. Well, even Fox News called the race for Obama at 11:00 PM.

    History marches on and another brick in a very old wall has fallen to the ground and crumbled to dust.

  47. Hopefully all Americans will now give him the chance to succeed and he will be wise enough to do what it takes to make it happen.

    If nothing else, I hope my Republican friends will endeavor to not appear as whiny sore losers. Losing hurts but if you take it with dignity you look a lot more like someone who deserves another chance at victory than if you act like…well, we’ve all seen the alternative, on both sides.

  48. Hopefully all Americans will now give him the chance to succeed and he will be wise enough to do what it takes to make it happen.

    If nothing else, I hope my Republican friends will endeavor to not appear as whiny sore losers. Losing hurts but if you take it with dignity you look a lot more like someone who deserves another chance at victory than if you act like…well, we’ve all seen the alternative, on both sides.

  50. When you crunch all the numbers with the OpinionJournal ECC map, you get, based on the CBS projections, Obama 367, McCain 171.

    But let’s wait until morning. No returns from Alaska, but if it goes red, those will be the final numbers.

    Miles

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