Despite national polls, the race between presidential hopefuls George W-Bush and Al Gore is too close to call according to a University of Iowa forecast. The U-of-I-based Iowa Electronic Markets show the November election is in a dead heat.Bob Forsythe is associate dean of the U-of-I Business College, which runs the I-E-M. He says the real-money market where traders buy and sell political futures has Gore at 48-point-6 percent and Bush at 49-points even. Forsythe says the I-E-M is a reliable indicator of election outcomes.In the past three presidential elections, the I-E-M has picked the winner within two percentage points. Forsythe says it’s an unusual venture, enabling people to buy “November Gore” instead of pork bellies or other commodities futures.Trades have to be limited to 500-dollars and most of them are in the 25-dollar range. Gore left Iowa this morning after a weekend of campaign stops along the Mississippi River border. Bush is in Iowa at this hour, finishing up a visit at a school before an appearance tonight at a G-O-P fundraiser.
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