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TODAY o November 7, 2000
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Hair vote goes to Bush; height favors Gore
Creative ways to pick
winner abound
Saeed Ahmed - Staff
Tuesday, November 7, 2000
It's not their policy positions or their popularity or even their poll standings
that will determine whether George W. Bush or Al Gore wins the presidency
tonight. Rather, it's all in the hair. Or royal lineage. Or movie theater beverage
sales.
This, according to the numerous unorthodox methods that are being used to
predict the outcome of Campaign 2000.
With the candidates running neck and neck in one of the the closest races in
U.S. history, political pundits are not the only ones offering prognostications
on all things presidential. Opinionmeisters of every persuasion also are
sharing their perspectives, even if their methodologies are scientifically
suspect.
Take, for example, hair. Dating back to John F. Kennedy in 1960, the candidate
with the thickest head of hair has won every presidential election, except for
Lyndon Johnson in 1964. The revelation is not altogether hair-raising,
considering how important a candidate's physical appearance has become in
the television age.
So, who is this year's hair apparent? According to the Hair Club for Men, a
company that knows a thing or two about the importance of a pilose head, it's
Bush --- with his fluffier, let's-touch-it-and- see kind of hair.
In contrast, Gore's bald spot, or "sandtrap" as some have taken to calling it,
almost gleams when lighted from the back.
But the vice president shouldn't fret just yet: He has the height advantage.
With the exception of the 1972 and 1976 races, the taller candidate has won
every race since 1952 (Dwight Eisenhower over Adlai Stevenson), according to
Jay Matthews, who wrote about it in The Washington Post. Should the trend
hold this year, Gore can expect to stand tall tonight: at 6 feet 1 inch, he
overshadows his rival by 3 inches.
If blue blood has anything to do with electoral success --- and it does, dating
from the time George Washington was president --- Bush will occupy the Oval
Office next.
So says Burke's Peerage, a British firm that has documented the lineage of all
42 U.S. presidents and concluded that 35 of them have some sort of royal
connection. While both Bush and Gore are of royal descent, Bush has far more
direct noble links, the firm says. He is closely related to every European
monarch on and off the throne, and is the 13th cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.
It's not always gene expression, however, that is used to predict a presidential
victor. The children who participate in Nickelodeon's "Kid's Vote" national poll
have picked the winner in each of the past three campaigns. This year, about
331,000 kids took part in the television network's survey, and they chose Bush
over Gore, 55 percent to 45 percent.
But the Democratic candidate can take comfort in another offbeat poll that has
not only accurately predicted the next president since 1968 but has done so
within a few points of the actual popular vote. When moviegoers order a
beverage from General Cinema theaters, they are given a choice between a
Democrat or a Republican straw.
In 1996, the straw vote predicted Bill Clinton would pull 46 percent of the
popular vote; he pulled 3 points more. This year, Gore leads 55 percent to 45
percent.
Finally, there are those who don't rely on polls or historical precedence, but
choose to intuit the winner.
Rachel and Hannah, a pair of miniature pinschers, "channel messages from the
spirit world and telepathically send them to me," says owner Jacqueline
Stallone, a "licensed astrologer" and mother of actor Sylvester Stallone.
An exchange of growls between the pups produced this prognostication for
tonight: Bush will win by a razor-thin margin of 200 votes.
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