Cock-Asses

With the Iowa caucuses mere hours away from letting us ignore the whole effing state for another 4 years, I thought I’d put in a plug for one of my favorite pieces of techno-science voodoo: the Iowa Electronic Markets.  The IEM is run by the University of Iowa, and is a simulated stock market for all sorts of future events, the presidential nomination being one of the more pertinent (they ran a recent market for Beowulf box office returns).  The picture up top is from the Democratic nomination market (for the whole country, not just Iowa), and shows Clinton trading way ahead of anybody.  You can evaluate the past performance of the IEM for yourself, but it’s a neat indicator to keep your eye on.

Update: There was a predictable swing in the Dem’s market after the results from Iowa came in.  (Obama-bama-bo-bama). The Republican market, on the other hand, is an absolute mess.