[Vision2020] Kerry claims victory after Redskins' loss

[Scott Dredge]

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Senator John Kerry (news - web
sites) declared victory in the US presidential
election, staking his claim on a historical quirk
linking past White House races and the Washington
Redskins football team.

The National Football League's Redskins lost 28-14 to
the Green Pay Packers at home on Sunday and, if
tradition holds, this means President George W. Bush
(news - web sites) is bound to lose the White House.

The legend surrounding the Redskins' last home game
before Election Day is simplicity itself: If they win,
the White House incumbent will remain president. If
they lose, the incumbent loses.

Going into the 2004 vote, the Redskins' electoral
barometer has held true for 80 years or 17 straight
elections -- a record that professional pollsters can
only dream of.

"I couldn't be more thrilled with the Packers win
today," Kerry said in a statement titled "Packers Win
-- Kerry's In!" released soon after the final whistle
blew at Fedex Field outside Washington.

"This streak started with Herbert Hoover, and will
continue this week when George Bush (news - web
sites), the only president since Hoover to lose jobs,
loses his," Kerry said. "When the Redskins get beat
before the election, the incumbent loses. The Packers
have done their part, this Tuesday, we'll do ours."

The polls show Bush and Kerry locked in a dead heat
ahead of Tuesday's vote.

Kerry and the Packers have a bit of history already,
although the candidate understandably did not bring
that up on Sunday.

At a campaign rally earlier this year in Wisconsin,
home of the Packers, Kerry clumsily referred to the
team's famed stadium as "Lambert Field" instead of
Lambeau Field.

Omens that can supposedly predict the outcome of US
elections are legion and stretch from sports playing
fields to Wall Street and fashion house catwalks.

Since 1904, according to Jeffrey Hirsch, editor of the
Stock Trader's Almanac, the incumbent has failed to
win re-election if the Dow Jones index falls by 0.5
per cent or more in October. This October, the Dow has
fallen 0.52 per cent, pointing to a Kerry presidency.

Another piece of unconventional wisdom involves
fashion styles, with liberally rising hemlines
indicating election victory for the Democratic
candidate and a more modest, conservative skirt-length
suggesting a Republican win.

But with low-slung jeans having replaced miniskirts as
the new pioneer in pushing the frontiers of
flesh-baring street wear, no discernible consensus has
emerged on where hemlines are right now.

Connecticut-based Weekly Reader magazine, meanwhile,
believes it has located the perfect sample group for
predicting the ballot outcome, even if none of its
members are old enough to vote.

The magazine's hundreds of thousands of school
readers, ranging from first grade through 12th grade
(aged six to 17), traditionally take part in a
nationwide mock vote which, since 1956, has accurately
chosen the actual White House winner.

This time around, more than 60 percent opted for Bush
over Kerry, who only won one state, Maryland.

One of the more fanciful indicators takes its readings
from the sales of candidate Halloween masks.

In 2000, the Wisconsin-based internet costume company,
www.buycostumes.com, began tracking presidential
candidate mask sales by five different manufacturers
and asked 12 different chains to research their sales
history.

Their findings showed that since 1980, the candidate
whose likeness has outsold his opponent's has won the
White House.

As of this weekend, Bush masks were reportedly the
more popular choice, but only by the narrowest of
margins.

Back on the sports field, fans of divination are still
mulling the possible electoral impact of the historic
World Series (news - web sites) win last week by the
Boston Red Sox baseball team -- its first world
championship since 1918.

Some believe it augurs a Kerry win, given that Boston
is the Massachusetts senator's home team. They also
point out that the Red Sox won the World Series in two
other election years -- 1912 and 1916 -- and in each
case the Democrat candidate came out on top.

A tongue-in-cheek counter argument insists that the
Red Sox triumph was so extraordinary that the only
electoral equivalent would be a victory Tuesday for
independent candidate Ralph Nader (news - web sites).