USNews.com: Inside Washington: Paul Bedard: : Yet Another Way to Predict Tuesday

November 03, 2006

Yet Another Way to Predict Tuesday

It only makes sense that candidates who see lots of Internet searches are high in voters' minds, right? Well, Ask.com thinks so, and it's telling us that "query volume" is a great election predictor. The popular website checked out search data results last month in the top eight Senate races: Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Virginia. Their offbeat result: Most incumbents win, and only one seat switches parties. Here are the predicted winners:

–Sen. James Talent, Missouri Republican

– Sen. Conrad Burns, Montana Republican

– Sen. Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania Republican

– Sen. Lincoln Chafee, Rhode Island Republican

– Sen. George Allen, Virginia Republican

– Sen. Robert Menendez, New Jersey Democrat

– Democratic Rep. Harold Ford wins Tennessee.

– The Ohio race between Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown and Republican Sen. Mike DeWine is too close to call.

Posted at 06:33 PM by PaulBedard

« Daryn Kagan's Class Act

When Capture and Trial Aren't Enough »

WHAT IS THIS?

Have you ever wondered what reporters do with all the stuff they collect but never write about? Well wonder no more. The bosses here pay me a good chunk of change and haven't ever choked on my Amex bill so it seems only proper to dump out my notebook every week. It won't be just news we didn't use. The blog will sometimes write about the process of getting stories-like why we choose Charlie Palmer's (quiet, spacious) for source lunches on Capitol Hill over Bistro Bis (crowded and noisy). Or why it's hard to get reporters at U.S. News to answer their phones on Fridays (it's our deadline, silly.) We'll even include pictures of our travels. Don't hesitate to applaud or criticize. We might just run your comments. Go ahead and email me at pbedard@usnews.com.

HISTORICAL STUFF

In Washington Whispers One Year Ago: Sen. Edward M. Kennedy can be one of the Senate's blustering best, but we found him in a candid moment last week when he sized up his speech this week at the AFL-CIO convention in Chicago. "You're gonna miss a great speech there," he said with a chuckle. "Same one I've given for 40 years. It's going to be breathtaking."

Five years ago: Vice President Dick Cheney knows how to keep reporters happy. Flying home on Air Force Two from an energy policy town hall meeting in Pittsburgh, his press corps asked stewards for beer. Breaking with practice, the jet was dry. Scribes whined to Cheney who found two bottles of vino, red and white, to give the pampered pressies.