Friday, October 15, 2004

In the Homestretch: Head to head, there's no competition this year. The presidential debate knocked out the most anticipated rematch between classic rivals duking it out in baseball's American League playoffs.

I don't know how this compares to previous contests, but 51.2-million viewers tuned in to watch politicians make semi-coherent jokes about their wives, and only 15.2-million chose to watch the Red Sox take on the Yankees to see who goes to the World Series.

There are also reports that cities are being flooded with voter registration requests by people who generally don't vote. Some of these requests are even legitimate.

The war, the emotion, and the closeness in the polls are setting this election apart from most others. And because of all the new voters coming in, pollsters may not be able to accurately determine who is a likely voter, since they generally gauge that by voting patterns in the past. With all these wildcards, I wonder if it's possible to predict the outcome ahead of time.

I don't know about you, but I plan on finding one of those bipartisan bars here in DC on election night and watch the show as the returns come in. It's turning out to be one hell of a game.