Final Results January 12, 2009 CNN reports popular votes in whole percentages, and by using their results we were unable to detemine a winner. Therefore the crack contest staff (some would say "cracked") of Laughton.org decided to switch to the results published by The New York Times, which records tenths of percents. The fractional difference awards the win to G. Gordon Riggy, whom we certify as the winner of this contest with no further ado, undo, or redo. Congratulations, and expect all future contests to be based on sporting competitions where the contestants have a reasonable chance of winning and the contest staff has a reasonable chance of tallying the final scores just once.

Official Results from The New York Times Popular Vote Electoral Votes State McCain Obama McCain Obama Alabama 60.2% 37.7% 9 0 Alaska 60.4% 38.8% 3 0 Arizona 53.8% 45% 10 0 Arkansas 58.8% 38.8% 6 0 California 37.3% 60.8% 0 55 Colorado 44.9% 53.5% 0 9 Connecticut 38.3% 60.5% 0 7 Delaware 37% 61.9% 0 3 District of Columbia 6.5% 92.9% 0 3 Florida 48.4% 50.9% 0 27 Georgia 52.2% 47% 15 0 Hawaii 26.6% 71.8% 0 4 Idaho 61.5% 36.1% 4 0 Illinois 36.9% 61.8% 0 21 Indiana 49% 49.9% 0 11 Iowa 44.7% 54% 0 7 Kansas 56.8% 41.4% 6 0 Kentucky 57.5% 41.1% 8 0 Louisiana 58.6% 39.9% 9 0 Maine 40.5% 57.6% 0 4 Maryland 36.8% 61.9% 0 10 Massachusetts 36.2% 62% 0 12 Michigan 40.9% 57.4% 0 17 Minnesota 44% 54.2% 0 10 Mississippi 56.4% 42.8% 6 0 Missouri 49.4% 49.3% 11 0 Montana 49.7% 47.2% 3 0 Nebraska 56.8% 41.7% 5 0 Nevada 42.7% 55.1% 0 5 New Hampshire 44.8% 54.3% 0 4 New Jersey 42.1% 56.8% 0 15 New Mexico 42% 56.7% 0 5 New York 36.7% 62.2% 0 31 North Carolina 49.5% 49.9% 0 15 North Dakota 53.3% 44.7% 3 0 Ohio 47.2% 51.2% 0 20 Oklahoma 65.6% 34.4% 7 0 Oregon 40.8% 57.1% 0 7 Pennsylvania 44.3% 54.7% 0 21 Rhode Island 35.3% 63.1% 0 4 South Carolina 53.8% 44.9% 8 0 South Dakota 53.2% 44.7% 3 0 Tennessee 56.9% 41.8% 11 0 Texas 55.5% 43.8% 34 0 Utah 62.9% 34.2% 5 0 Vermont 30.6% 67.8% 0 3 Virginia 46.4% 52.7% 0 13 Washington 40.7% 57.5% 0 11 West Virginia 55.7% 42.6% 5 0 Wisconsin 42.4% 56.3% 0 10 Wyoming 65.2% 32.7% 3 0 Total 174 364 Laughton.org declares Barack Obama the winner of the 2008 presidential election.

Rigged Results Only altered states are shown; red figures indicate successful change of electoral vote winner Richard the Canuck Buying Votes for Obama Popular Vote Electoral Votes State McCain Obama McCain Obama Florida 11.4% 87.9% 0 27 New York 27.7% 71.2% 0 31 Texas 28.5% 70.8% 0 34 Obama wins 398-140. Karl Rove Buying Votes for McCain Popular Vote Electoral Votes McCain Obama McCain Obama Colorado 47.9% 50.5% 0 9 Florida 55.4% 43.9% 27 0 Indiana 54% 44.9% 11 0 Louisiana 63.6% 34.9% 9 0 Missouri 54.4% 44.3% 11 0 North Carolina 54.5% 44.9% 15 0 Ohio 52.2% 46.2% 20 0 Obama wins 291-247. Polly Pollster Buying Votes for McCain Popular Vote Electoral Votes McCain Obama McCain Obama California 47.3% 50.8% 0 55 Florida 54.4% 44.9% 27 0 Georgia 56.2% 43% 15 0 North Carolina 55.5% 43.9% 15 0 Ohio 53.2% 45.2% 20 0 Pennsylvania 50.3% 48.7% 21 0 Obama wins 281-257. Anxious Agonizer Buying Votes for McCain Popular Vote Electoral Votes McCain Obama McCain Obama California 45.3% 52.8% 0 55 Florida 52.4% 46.9% 27 0 Minnesota 48% 50.2% 0 10 North Carolina 56.5% 42.9% 15 0 Ohio 51.2% 47.2% 20 0 Pennsylvania 49.3% 49.7% 0 21 Obama wins 302-236. G. Gordon Riggy Buying Votes for McCain Popular Vote Electoral Votes McCain Obama McCain Obama California 50.3% 47.8% 55 0 Florida 54.4% 44.9% 27 0 Indiana 52% 46.9% 11 0 Missouri 52.4% 46.3% 11 0 North Carolina 53.5% 45.9% 15 0 Ohio 52.2% 46.2% 20 0 The election is rigged! McCain wins 302-236! M. F. Leith Buying Votes for McCain Popular Vote Electoral Votes McCain Obama McCain Obama California 46.3% 51.8% 0 55 Florida 53.4% 45.9% 27 0 Indiana 54% 44.9% 11 0 North Carolina 54.5% 44.9% 15 0 Ohio 52.2% 46.2% 20 0 Pennsylvania 49.3% 49.7% 0 21 Virginia 51.4% 47.7% 13 0 Obama wins 278-260. Mr. Potatoe Head Buying Votes for McCain Popular Vote Electoral Votes McCain Obama McCain Obama Florida 50.4% 48.9% 27 0 Minnesota 47% 51.2% 0 10 Ohio 49.2% 49.2% 0 20 Pennsylvania 48.3% 50.7% 0 21 Virginia 50.4% 48.7% 13 0 Wisconsin 45.4% 53.3% 0 10 Obama wins 324-214.

Entries Vote Purchases by Player and State
Player	Candidate	CA	CO	FL	GA	IN	LA	MN	MO	NY	NC	OH	PA	TX	VA	WI	Expenditure	Tiebreaker
Richard the Canuck	Obama			37						9				27			$73 million	195,740,965
Karl Rove	McCain		3	7		5	5		5		5	5					$35 million	137,000,000
Polly Pollster	McCain	10		6	4						6	6	6				$38 million	99,999,999
Anxious Agonizer	McCain	8		4				4			7	4	5				$32 million	75,000,000
G. Gordon Riggy	McCain	13		6		3			3		4	5					$34 million	131,461,209
M. F. Leith	McCain	9		5		5					5	5	5		5		$39 million	100,000,000
Mr. Potatoe Head*	McCain			2				3				2	4		4	3	$18 million	128,576,912
States in which no player has purchased votes are not displayed in the table. *Mr. Potatoe Head is an employee of Laughton.org and is ineligible to receive a prize. Abbreviations:  AL-Alabama  AK-Alaska  AZ-Arizona  AR-Arkansas  CA-California  CO-Colorado  CT-Connecticut  DE-Delaware  DC-Washington, D.C.  FL-Florida  GA-Georgia  HI-Hawaii  ID-Idaho  IL-Illinois  IN-Indiana  IA-Iowa  KS-Kansas  KY-Kentucky  LA-Louisiana  ME-Maine  MD-Maryland  MA-Massachusetts  MI-Michigan  MN-Minnesota  MS-Mississippi  MO-Missouri  MT-Montana  NE-Nebraska  NV-Nevada  NH-New Hampshire  NJ-New Jersey  NM-New Mexico  NY-New York  NC-North Carolina  ND-North Dakota  OH-Ohio  OK-Oklahoma  OR-Oregon  PA-Pennsylvania  RI-Rhode Island  SC-South Carolina  SD-South Dakota  TN-Tennessee  TX-Texas  UT-Utah  VT-Vermont  VA-Virginia  WA-Washington  WV-West Virginia  WI-Wisconsin  WY-Wyoming

The object is simple: buy enough votes to change the result of the upcoming presidential election. You have unlimited funds, and you can buy votes in as many states as you like. There are only a few restrictions: You may only buy votes for one candidate, either John McCain or Barack Obama. For purposes of this contest, third-party, independent, and crackpot candidates will be ignored. You may buy votes in increments of 1% of each state's popular vote. Regardless of the state's population, 1% of its votes costs one million dollars. This is not the going rate, just the nominal cost for purposes of this contest, just as $500 won't buy you a real house but can get you an entire hotel in Monopoly. You may not buy more than 49% of any state's votes. As a stereo salesman once remarked to me, "we try to be at least halfway honest around here." How to Enter Use the convenient form at the bottom of this page to enter the contest. Fill in the identifying fields, then use the menus to select how many votes you want to buy in each state. All states are set to zero by default; you only need to change the ones where you want to buy votes. Finally, fill in your tiebreaker prediction and click "submit." All entries must be received no later than midnight on Sunday, November 2, 2008. Anyone with an e-mail account is welcome to play. There is no charge. You may send only one entry from an e-mail address. If you have more than one address, you may send one entry from each. You may use the same address to enter this contest and any other contest running concurrently at Laughton.org. Scoring Results will be calculated using CNN's online election results. In past elections, CNN has always reported the percentage of each state's popular vote won by each candidate, and the crack contest staff of Laughton.org trusts that they will do so again this year. If the unlikely event that they do not, we'll substitute the online results of a popular newspaper. To determine a player's results, the official percentages will be adjusted by the amounts in the player's entry. Every percent added to one candidate's total is deducted from the other's. Then the electoral college votes will be recalculated on a winner-take-all basis. In order to change a state's vote, a candidate must win more than 50% of the total. If a player's adjustment only raises his candidate's total to 50%, he does not change the state's electoral result. For example, let's say that California officially reports 51% of its total votes for McCain, 48% for Obama, and 1% for other. A player who buys 3% of the vote for Obama would change the percentages to 48% McCain, 51% Obama, 1% other, thus awarding all of California's electoral votes to Obama. A player who only bought 2% of the vote for Obama would change the result to 49% McCain, 50% Obama, 1% other, and because the adjustment did not award Obama more than 50%, the electoral votes remain McCain's. CNN has previously reported popular-vote percentages as whole numbers. We will use the numbers exactly as reported by CNN on their main election results page. If they use fractional percentages for the 2008 election, we'll use the fractions. If a player's purchase of votes gives his candidate 50.1% of a state's popular vote, he will have successfully changed the electoral outcome of the state. The Winner The winner of this contest will be the player whose "purchased" votes would have reversed the actual outcome of the election held on November 4, 2008. If more than one player meets this condition, a series of tiebreakers will be used to determine the prizewinner. If multiple players are tied for first place after all tiebreakers have been exhausted, duplicate prizes will be awarded. Tiebreakers will be applied in the order shown here: The player who spends the least money wins. The player who generates the greatest margin of victory in the Electoral College wins. The player whose maximum expenditure in any one state is the lowest wins. The player who buys votes in the fewest states wins. The player whose tiebreaker prediction is closest to the actual number of votes cast nationwide wins (it makes no difference whether the prediction is higher or lower than the actual total). Because the outcome of the election and the percentage of votes won by each candidate in each state may not be known immediately, Laughton.org will not announce an official winner until the results are no longer in doubt. Tentative results will be posted when practical. The Prize Laughton.org does not reveal the prizes to be awarded before all entries have been received. However, since this contest is all about cheating, we're going to break our own rule. The winner will receive a copy of Idiots in Charge by Leland Gregory, a collection of anecdotes - allegedly true - about the shenanigans of government officials.   Seeking Professional Help Where and how you do your research is entirely your decision. For those of you who aren't sure where to start, we suggest CNN. They summarize the results of all the latest polls in their Electoral Map Calculator, which not only tells you which way each state is leaning but also lets you see the impact of changing the preference of any state.

Your e-mail address (will not appear on player roster): Your name (as you want it to appear on the player roster): Candidate for whom you are buying votes: --choose one--John McCainBarack Obama
State	Electoral Votes	Percent of Popular Vote Purchased
Alabama	9	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Alaska	3	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Arizona	10	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Arkansas	6	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
California	55	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Colorado	9	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Connecticut	7	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Delaware	3	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
District of Columbia	3	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Florida	27	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Georgia	15	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Hawaii	4	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Idaho	4	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Illinois	21	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Indiana	11	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Iowa	7	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Kansas	6	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Kentucky	8	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Louisiana	9	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Maine	4	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Maryland	10	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Massachusetts	12	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Michigan	17	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Minnesota	10	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Mississippi	6	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Missouri	11	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Montana	3	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Nebraska	5	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Nevada	5	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
New Hampshire	4	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
New Jersey	15	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
New Mexico	5	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
New York	31	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
North Carolina	15	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
North Dakota	3	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Ohio	20	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Oklahoma	7	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Oregon	7	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Pennsylvania	21	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Rhode Island	4	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
South Carolina	8	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
South Dakota	3	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Tennessee	11	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Texas	34	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Utah	5	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Vermont	3	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Virginia	13	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Washington	11	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
West Virginia	5	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Wisconsin	10	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Wyoming	3	012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849
Tiebreaker Predict the total number of votes that will be cast nationwide: