I wish William Saletan in Slate had not already used the baseball metaphor about the presidential debate. It's an attractive source of analogies every fourth October. On the baseball front, we're getting further away every evening from the possiblity of a Houston-Boston World Series. We might have to wait for the World Series and the Presidential election to feature contenders from the same pair of states.
Like the Yankees at the beginning of the 9th, the president had a low total -- his domestic record -- to defend when he went out to pitch -- debate -- last night. Predictably enough the Red Sox did not come back in the 9th. It wasn't as predictable that John Kerry would keep on slugging and score runs, but he did.
Prediction time!
ALCS: Yankees in 6.
NLCS: Cardinals in 5.
World Series: Cardinals in 7
Election: Kerry with 289 Electoral Votes (Atlantic coast north of DC. Great Lakes States minus Indiana. NM. Pacific Coast. New Mexico).
Surprise Senate pick-up: Dems in Kentucky.