President Barack Obama was re-elected Tuesday, but there were signs this was coming, and we’re not talking about early polling.
One sign came in the form of Halloween and the sale of candidate masks.
"I know a lot of people are doing Mitt Romney with a hoard of PBS characters, like Big Bird and Elmo, but I'll probably go with Obama," Steven Garcia from Pembroke Pines said before the day of costumed celebrations.
Candidate masks have been available for six elections now, and for the last five, the one whose mask sells the most wins the presidency.
"I guess that makes sense because more people want to be like the president, so I guess they are projecting that the president will be whoever they walk around as," said Eugene Burns of Pembroke Pines.
VIDEO: Political Halloween Masks
Another predictor? Football. Since 1988, the winner of the Miami-Florida State game in an election year predicts which party wins the state. An FSU win goes to the Democrats, and a Miami victory to the Republicans.
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Other fun facts:
• President Obama’s re-election is the first time the United States has elected three two-term presidents in a row. The last such consecutive winning streak happened nearly 200 years ago with presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe.
• The Democrats didn’t officially get their blue color or the Republicans their red until 2000. Before that, it flip-flopped, but the media wanted something concrete.
• Both candidates broke tradition and did some campaigning on Election Day. President Obama did interviews with radio TV stations and former Massachusetts Gov. Romney visited two battleground states, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
• In Kenya, two newborn twins are named Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.
• What if there is a tie in electoral votes? In that case the House of Representatives gets to pick the president, but the Senate picks the vice president.
