Since I love numbers and have already voted early I have been playing around with these interactive electoral college vote maps to see if I could predict the eventual winner of the 2008 Presidential Race. I was prompted by an article that stated that the Gallup Poll by this time in the race has correctly predicted the winner by this date in all races, since 1937, except one. That one they missed was Ronald Reagan in 1980 who was behind by a similar margin that McCain is now and won the race after an excellent debate performance just a week before the election That one debate was the only one held in that election. All these maps are interactive and you can change states to whatever you determine they Red, Blue, Swing, or leaning to one candidate or the other. I also looked at odds posted from gambling sites in the US and UK. It was a fun exercise. For my fellow numbers geeks or the just plain bored here are the links.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/maps/obama_vs_mccain/
http://maps.google.com/help/maps/elections/#electoral_votes
http://www.electoral-vote.com/
David
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