One Week

Seven days is a long time in the world of presidential politics, so with early voting already underway and still a few days left for an October Surprise, who knows what will actually happen on November 4. Luckily, every blogger, columnist and pundit has come up with his or her own permutation of possible outcomes to keep you busy reading until next Tuesday.

In this week's Newsweek, Jonathan Alter explores the what-if scenario of a Sen. John McCain win in Why McCain Won. Alter falls back on historical truths - the failure of the youth vote that the Democrats are depending on, and the fear of racism affecting the outcome in areas like the Florida panhandle, to envision a McCain win and what that would mean for both parties.

A look back to the 1980 election from American Experience recalls a real-life scenario. When the Iran hostage crisis broke, President Jimmy Carter's consistent lead in the polls all but evaporated on Election Day, leading Ronald Reagan to a landslide win against the incumbent president. As Gallup reminded us this week, Carter's loss was the only time in the last 54 years that a presidential candidate was ahead in the national polls but lost the general election.

The viral "what if" scenario on the Web this week is MoveOn.org's blame campaign, aimed at getting Democrats to the polls. Using psychology to shame people into voting, the site includes your name in a video and accuses you of not showing up to vote, thereby costing Sen. Barack Obama a vote.