Election Prognosticators

Who's got the best record of predicting election results? Forget the pundits. TIME takes a look at 10 strange (but sometimes true) presidential election predictors
By Alyssa Fetini and Frances Romero

Ice Cream for the President

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Fifty-one percent of voters on election site chose Whirl of Change as their favorite election flavor in Baskin Robbins' first flavor poll. The peanut-nougat ice cream swirled with chunks of chocolate-covered peanut brittle and a caramel ribbon was created as a representation of Democratic candidate Obama. McCain's Straight Talk Crunch (caramel ribbon, chocolate pieces, red-state candy and crunchy mixed nuts swirled into white chocolate ice cream) came in at a close 49%.

Baskin Robbins has created election flavors in the past, though not for each election year and not always for two candidates. In 1960, when JFK beat Richard Nixon, the Candi-Date flavor featured vanilla ice cream loaded with diced dates and Butter Brickle candy. When incumbent Bill Clinton faced Bob Dole in 1996 two flavors emerged: Saxy Candidate (with vanilla ice cream and Baby Ruth candy bar pieces) for Clinton and GOPeanut Butter for Dole. This year is the first year in which the website hosted a poll of the two flavors.

Prediction: Obama

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