Tie goes to Obama, electorial that is.

[rn79870]

An interesting "what if" article. If there was a tie in the electoral vote, what next. Politico tells us what.

The last time it happened was in 1800, when Thomas Jefferson crushed sitting President John Adams in the popular vote, but owing to a technicality ended up in an electoral vote tie with his own running mate, Aaron Burr, leaving the House to decide the next president. Alexander Hamilton eventually broke the deadlock in Jefferson’s favor, and four years later Burr evened the score by mortally wounding Hamilton in a duel.

Even if the electoral votes knot at 269 this year, it’s unlikely McCain would shoot a congressman, but very likely the House will select a President Obama. Here’s the most likely scenario for a tie: Give Obama the 252 electoral votes John Kerry won for the Democrats in 2004, and add to those New Mexico (5) and Iowa (7), which narrowly went for President Bush in 2004 after backing Al Gore in 2000, and traditionally Republican Colorado (9), where changing demographics favor Obama. Subtract New Hampshire (4), renowned for its independent streak and where voters in Republican primaries have twice favored McCain over establishment-backed and better-funded candidates, and it amounts to 269-269. The projection model used by Nate Silver of the electoral projection and analysis site http://www.fivethirtyeight.com presently shows just a .48 percent chance of this happening.

Interesting that this is at least 1 of 2 times the populat vote weighed in favor of the candidate that the electorial vote selected. With a 48% chance of this happening, it's almost an even money bet.

[ishkabibble]

.48, not 48

[rn79870]

Whoops. Maybe that's why I fail in Las Vegas.

[AZhitman]

But Obama has those additional 8 states that the rest of us don't know about...

[OriginalWheelman]

Don't forget all those votes from Germany, Afghanistan, England,

[themadscientist]

Whoops. Maybe that's why I fail in Las Vegas.

Your choice of candidate indicates a propensity for longshots; that is likely why you do bad in Vegas.

[Marenta]

I still say that Jackson and Cook Counties in IL should just die. I </3 Democrats.

[rn79870]

Your choice of candidate indicates a propensity for longshots; that is likely why you do bad in Vegas.

Bad is an understatement. Seriously, an understatement. I can't even guess a single correct number on a lottery ticket.