Paul Simons however reported a different theory. The Northwest was soaked on election day by a Pacific storm, & it was stormy too in the finely balanced states of North Carolina & Virginia. Political researchers at Florida State university have established that turnout drops 1% for every inch of rain, & that this favours the Republicans
But for rain (or the lack of it) Nixon would have beaten Kennedy in 1960 & Gore would have won Florida in 2000
Ah! But what was the weather like for the early voters?
And what happened to the Bradley effect (which also affected (the white) Jerry Brown in the same election year it was allegedly in operation)?
Did anyone read the tea leaves, check the astrological charts or slaughter a chicken for its entrails?
