DC Download: Close race now even closer

(LIN) — Both President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney are seeing Election Day victory in their near future, even though the road to victory has had its share of twists and turns.

In the soap opera saga that is this election season, many cliffhangers and plot twists have unfolded in the past few days.

On Monday, both candidates went head-to-head for the last time before the election. The final presidential debate, which was supposed to be centered on foreign policy, was filled with many talks on the economy. Romney’s “I love teachers” and Obama’s “horses and bayonets” comments were just two of many zingers that filled the Twitterverse and blogosphere.

Tuesday night, Indiana Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock, said during a debate that a pregnancy caused by rape is something God intended to happen. Mourdock stands by his statement, doesn’t plan to apologize and Romney said Wednesday he will continue to endorse Mourdock in the race.

On Wednesday, documents surfaced showing that the White House was informed of the U.S. Consulate attack in Libya just hours after the attack, and that a terrorist group claimed responsibility.

Thursday morning polls showed a shift in gender preference for both candidates, with Obama taking Romney’s lead over men down 7 percent, and Romney pulling even with Obama among women voters.

So who’s really on top of the race?

Your guess is as good as anyone else’s.

Election night comes down to how voters in key battleground states – and even how toss-up counties in those states – vote, and the possibilities are endless.

Any given plot twist, such as an Indiana Senate candidate or uncovering of once-hidden documents, has the ability to sway voters one way or the other if their minds aren’t already made.

At this point, many eyes are on Ohio voters. In the past 100 years, there have only been two elections where Ohio did not vote for the presidential winner.  (In 1944, Ohio chose Thomas Dewey over Franklin Roosevelt, and in 1960, the state sided with Richard Nixon over John F. Kennedy.)

However, if Obama wins Ohio, but Romney wins Colorado and Virginia, Ohio becomes less important.

This race has become so close that the possibility of a recount is not out of the question. It would also not be surprising one candidate gets the electorate vote while the other gets the popular vote.

Fingers crossed, a repeat of the 2000 presidential election is not in the near future, but don’t be surprised if we don’t have a named winner until the day after Election Day.

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