Can Beer Predict the Election?

In the ridiculous realms of the "blogosphere" and the "punditocracy" you'll often hear about the infamous "who would you rather have a beer with" test for presidential hopefuls. Does such a question actually hold sway? Can it accurately predict the outcome of an election?

Prior to the 2004 election, The Economist released a survey showing that Americans would rather have a beer (or coffee for you puritans and mormons) with George Bush than John Kerry by a margain of 56% to 44%.

Another poll, the Zogby/Williams Identity Poll, showed that 57% percent would prefer to quaff a beer with Bush, who ironically is a former alcoholic.

For this election, the National Beer Wholesalers Association is putting that very question to the masses on the internet, and last I checked, Barack Obama had a commanding lead over all other contenders with 43% of the vote. John McCain comes in a distant second, drawing only 20% of the beer drinking electorate.

At a recent campaign stop in Wisconsin, Mrs. Clinton stated that the country doesn't "need to have a beer with the next president. We had that president." But in a savvy move in the beer loving Badger State added "But you know I'd be happy to have a beer too. We can talk about how to solve our problems. (here)"

But if any state could be gauged by the beer poll, it's Wisconsin, a state where beer drinking is as interwoven into the state's identity as cheese and Green Bay Packers football. Wisconsin held its primary last night, drawing out over 1 million Wisconsinites in below zero temperatures, who in fact confirmed the results of the beer poll, with 58% of the Democratic vote going to Obama, 622,303 votes overall, nearly triple the votes for Republican front runner John McCain.

If the beer question remains as accurate as it was in 2004, and as accurate as it reflected the Wisconsin primary, then the American populace will soon be toasting to the first black President in the history of the United States.

Cheers to Obama for handily winning the beer-loving Badger State last night.