Will Harry’s bar in Paris be right again about who’ll win the Presidential election? Or will it be wrong as it was only twice in every election since 1924? The latest:
President Barack Obama is leading against challenger Mitt Romney in a straw poll at Harry’s Bar, an iconic Paris watering hole which has held a vote ahead of U.S. elections since 1924 and only got the results wrong twice.
The birthplace of the Bloody Mary and the haunt of the likes of Ernest Hemingway and Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Harry’s New York Bar – a small corner of Manhattan in the heart of Paris – is the best election soothsayer, its owner said.
“We are the most dependable opinion poll,” said Isabelle MacElhone with a wink, speaking of the more that 100-year-old institution.
The only two failed results were the 1976 election won by Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush’s 2004 victory.
The venerable establishment started the daily straw votes for this election in October, with only Americans allowed to take part.
A weekly count is conducted and on Election Day next Tuesday, before the votes in America are tallied, Harry’s releases its own results.
The latest count based on 165 votes cast so far has Obama leading against Romney by 32 votes.
Stay tuned until Tuesday…
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.