Contest! Contest!

Okay, let's have a contest to predict the outcome of the presidential race next week! The prize will be absolutely nothing but a mention on this blog and bragging rights.

How many electoral votes will Barack Obama receive? Take your best guess, put the number down as the subject in an e-mail and send it to…

Only numerical guesses in the subject line will be counted. You can leave the body of the message blank except you should give me the name you want me to announce as the winner if you're the winner…and I may or may not announce some runners-up. I'm unpredictable that way.

You can enter as many times as you want but only one guess per e-mail and only your last e-mail will be counted. So if you send a guess on Friday and you change your mind later and send another one on Sunday, only your Sunday guess will count. All entries must be in our special e-mailbox by Midnight (Pacific Time) on Monday night/Tuesday morning. The winner will be the earliest vote received with the correct total…or the closest guess if no one hits it on the button. I will declare a winner whenever I think the final electoral total is official and unlikely to change.

Is that enough rules for you? Okay, I'll start. My guess is 349.