With many polls showing presidential candidates Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain in a dead heat, many are predicting that the first presidential debate on Sept. 26 could be a turning point in the election.

A new approach to determining which candidate will win the most electoral votes in the U.S. Presidential race factors in lessons learned from the 2004 election and uses sophisticated math modeling. The research will be presented at the annual meeting of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®).

If the prediction by the Jewish leaders is anything to go by, then democratic presidential Hopeful Sen.Barack Obama will have an easy ride over John McCain amongst the Jewish voters come the November presidential election.Barack Obama is expected to attract a vast majority of Jewish Voters in the face of suspicion and criticism about his views on the current Iranian standoff and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Anticipating what is likely to be one of the most interesting elections in modern history, University at Buffalo professor of political science James E. Campbell and Michael S. Lewis-Beck, professor of political science at the University of Iowa, have assembled the insights of prominent election forecasters in a special issue of the International Journal of Forecasting published this month.

Today, America is watching Montana and South Dakota. Across both states, voters are heading to the polls for the final contests of the primary season. All across the country, people are following the results of today's primaries to see if voters there are ready for real change. After over fifteen months of campaigning, we are only 41.5 delegates away from the nomination. After over fifteen months, the goal of real change is within reach.

Spouses of presidential candidates are employed in campaigns more strategically and intensively than ever before. New research by political scientists concludes that the ability of presidential and vice-presidential candidates’ spouses to act as campaign surrogates may contribute to the successes and failures on the campaign trail.

Leftist former bishop Fernando Lugo, who earlier was suspended from the religious order by the Vatican, has won Paraguay's presidential vote, beating rival Blanca Ovelar by 39-33 percent and ending her Colorado Party's 61-year rule in government, according to official preliminary results.

For the first time in Zimbabwe's history, an election recount is taking place. The recounting of votes for 23 seats in the country's legislature began on Saturday, with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and most legal analysts calling it illegal.

The European Union mission that monitored Kenya's elections says it is not clear who was actually elected president.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso is calling for a swift transition to democracy in Zimbabwe. Barosso says Zimbabweans have voted for change from President Robert Mugabe's rule.

Independent election monitors say Montenegro's President Filip Vujanovic has won re-election.

Three of Nepal's top political leaders have promised to end election-related violence before next week's national poll. International election observers have said attacks by Maoists and militants could undermine the April 10 election.