Columnists can play that game, too.
So before the national race can spread out again, consider a couple of hair-raising scenarios that put the tight contest between George W. Bush and Al Gore in a new and terrifying light. The winner in the Electoral College vote is not the winner of the popular vote. In the current close-run presidential race, either result is possible and could set off a chain of events that would test the fabric of the American political system. So much for probabilities. It includes a number of smaller states with few electoral votes, which could jostle the final tally to the 269-269 standoff.