Could November's Election Be a Tie?

As if you needed another reason to campaign for members of Congress who correspond to your political preferences, speculation is mounting that Congress could end up deciding this year's Presidential election. Why? Because it looks like neither President Obama nor GOP nominee Mitt Romney can close the deal entirely, even in what would be close to a best-case scenario for both candidates. RealClearPolitics explains:

Early this spring, as the new electoral map began to take shape, an intriguing scenario began circulating in political circles: the very real possibility that the 2012 presidential election could result in an Electoral College tie.

The most likely combination that would produce such a result requires Mitt Romney to carry all the states John McCain won in 2008, which after the redistricting process account for 180 electoral votes. Add to Romney's column Indiana (11), Virginia (13), North Carolina (15), Florida (29), Ohio (18), and New Hampshire (4). That would yield 270 electoral votes for Romney to 268 for President Obama, the narrowest possible win for the challenger.

But then subtract from the Republican ticket the single electoral vote Obama won in Nebraska due to the anomalous way the Cornhusker State allocates its five electoral votes, and there would be a rare electoral tie that would send the election to the House of Representatives.

Reaers should note that this scenario, while intriguing, is highly unlikely. While nationwide polls show Romney and Obama tied at about 47 percent of the vote each, state level polls show Obama comfortably in the lead by more than 100 electoral votes. Nevertheless, in the event that the two men did tie, the election would be resolved not by the incumbent House of Representatives, but by whichever makeup of the House was elected this year. This means that, depending on what happens in any individual district, the election would conceivably be in the hands of John Boehner or Nancy Pelosi.

If that doesn't frighten our readers into action, we don't know what will.