Order and Prediction

Obama could be President of the US. That is the news. Fifty years ago, I would've not predicted that. To predict, there has to be a pattern. Sometimes patterns are hidden by the way we choose to understand something. No black man has ever been elected to this position.

Looking at the map on the front page of the NYT, I see a lot of red counties in that country. I really don't see a pattern that will make me predict an Obama victory.

Of course there is that mysterious Electoral College, according to the NYT, they are tied on the popular vote; 11,920,663 for Obama, and 11,850,353 for McCain. To me that is a tie; but Electoral vote wise it is: 62 to 8, Obama's way.

I don't predict a winner at 8:14 PM central time.