A Last Ditch Effort
November 3, 2008 – 8:24 pm by BHWith only one night to go both candidates are making last ditch efforts to woo undecided voters. History suggests this is silly. What they should do is grab some popcorn and a beer and settle down on the couch to watch the some Monday Night Football. Crazy? Nah. See, the election actually is determined by whether or not the Redskins win or lose their last home game. This has been an infallible measurement tool and has correctly predicted the winner since 1936. Well mostly, it gave a bad prediction in 2004, but never mind that. So tonight’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers is what it’s all about.
For a bit of clarification, if the Redskins win their last home game before the election, then the incumbent party wins the election. If they lose then the incumbent party will lose. So you see, the important question is not whether you’re a Republican, Green, Independent, Anarcho-capitalist, or Democrat, but whether you’re a Redskins or Steelers fan.
Snopes dismisses the idea, USA Today is more amenable, and statisticians everywhere are groaning about spurious correlation.
Update: ESPN is reporting that this statistic has been accurate 17 out of 17 times. I don’t think so. It’s currently 17 out of 18.
Update II: The Steelers won the game 23-6. That means the incumbent party will lose the election and Senator Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States.
