Okay, it’s almost time to count the votes. That means it’s time for predictions. So here goes.

PRESIDENT—Indiana is a real toss-up, with Barack Obama having the best chance to win it for the Democrats for the first time in 44 years. But it would really be only a historical footnote. If Obama means here, it means he would be putting together a landslide victory nationwide. Not necessary a Johnson, Nixon, Reagan type landslide. He can’t do that without Texas, which he isn’t gonna win. But at least an Eisenhower-Bush the First type of landslide. And that seems increasingly likely. Although some polls (not all) show John McCain creeping closer in the popular vote (Ask Al Gore how important that is.), he isn’t making much headway in the Electoral College. Obama has big leads in enough Bush 2004 states to pass 270, while McCain, despite his repeated Pennsylvania appearances, doesn’t seem likely to take away any Kerry 2004 states. And that assumes he holds Ohio and Florida, which is a huge assumption.

WINNER—Obama

GOVERNOR—This race ended in early September when Democrat Jill Long Thompson went off the air for over a month. You can’t win when you’re invisible. And, yes, I know people bring up the Greg Ballard example. He had no money and no visibility, but won because enough people were mad at Bart Peterson. But governor isn’t mayor. Knocking on doors doesn’t cut it in a statewide race. Long Thompson went off the air, of course, because she had no money. And that was because her campaign had been so lackluster up until then. She calculated that enough people were mad at Mitch Daniels that simply spreading the message “I’m not Mitch” would work. It didn’t. Polls have varied quite a bit in this race. But while at least some early polls showed Long Thompson with a chance, the recent ones only disagree on how far ahead Daniels is. Obama’s coattails will make this respectable for Democrats, but that’s about it.

WINNER—Daniels

STATE SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT—Polls show Republican Tony Bennett leading Democrat Richard Wood. This will depend largely on coattails.

WINNER—Bennett

ATTORNEY GENERAL—Because of a personal, family-related conflict, I have not covered this race and will not offer a prediction.

7th DISTRICT CONGRESS—Andre Carson has quickly become a more polished campaigner. Meanwhile Gabrielle Campo has been largely invisible since her opening “I Can’t Answer Any Questions Today” news conference. She may be an up-and-comer, but not this year and not this race.

WINNER—Carson

GETTING RID OF TOWNSHIP ASSESSORS—It’s impossible to predict this race, because it’s really 43 separate races in the state’s biggest townships. Even here in Marion County, where eight of the nine townships will have this on the ballot (Decatur wasn’t big enough and is already losing its township assessor), it isn’t a single race. It will be decided separately in each township, which means you could have any possible combination of townships with and without assessors.