From the highly respected NewsCorp ( Murdoch-Fox ) broadsheet The Australian :
Malcolm Mackerras :

My key prediction in an article published in February this year was this: “On Monday, December 20, 2004, the Electoral College will meet and 327 votes will be cast for John Kerry and 211 for George W. Bush.”

The article went on to predict that the 327 votes for Kerry would be made up as follows:

“First, he will win 260 votes by carrying every state carried by Al Gore in 2000. Second, he will win 27 votes in Florida, four in New Hampshire, 11 in Missouri, 20 in Ohio and five in Nevada.”

Subject to a quite minor revision, that remains my forecast.

Malcolm Mackerras is one of the most respected electoral pundits in the country. He’s often spectacularly right, but when he’s wrong, he’s really wrong.

Roy Ecclestone has 2 bob each way :

Osame bin Laden’s shock injection into the US election campaign helps George W.Bush by putting terrorism back on centre stage – and John Kerry by reminding Americans the President has failed to eliminate public enemy No 1.

As does Ron Fournier :

US President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry are virtually tied in the Electoral College count, fighting over eight to 10 states.

After months campaigning and about $US500m spent on attack ads, Mr Bush and Mr Kerry are still at the whim of unexpected events such as Osama bin Laden’s sudden emergence on Friday, a videotape appearance that sent both candidates scrambling to pledge victory in the fight against terrorism.

“Under normal circumstances, undecided voters break against the incumbent this late in an election. However, these are not normal circumstances. This is a time of war,” said Michigan pollster Steve Mitchell.

“The question then becomes, will this be different than most years? Will swing voters decide they don’t want to change horses in midstream?” he said.

Talking about which, interest is high on the great race on November 2nd :

Melbourne Cup outfits may need to be rethought tonight, as Irish trainer Dermot Weld looks to the heavens and prays for rain.

Showers are expected before the big race and Weld will only start Vinnie Roe if he judges the track soft enough tomorrow morning.

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Geoff Kitchen said it would be fine early tomorrow morning in Melbourne but showers were expected later in the day.

Australian-based Internet bookmaker Centrebet has current odds of about 3:2 on Bush and 9:4 on Kerry, with 500:1 for Nader. There’s always an optimist.