Washington Redskins Lose, Mitt Romney Wins Presidency?

If you believe in omens, GOP presidential challenger Mitt Romney got a good one this afternoon courtesy of the NFL Carolina Panthers.

It’s called the Redskins rule.

As The Inquisitrreported previously, the Washington Redskins Sunday-before-the-election home game has been successfully predicting the outcome of the US presidential election since 1940 (except for 2004). A win for the Redskins on their home field means that the incumbent party wins the general election and a loss means that the non-incumbent will win.

This afternoon the Carolina Panthers in a minor upset snapped a five-game losing streak and defeated the Washington Redskins 21-13. The Panthers won outright even though the Redskins were favored by three points for sports betting purposes.

The Panthers win means that under the Redskins rule, the GOP will win the presidency on Tuesday (or whenever officials get done counting ballots).

In this afternoon’s game, Panthers quarterback Cam Newton was 13 for 23 for 201 yards and one touchdown, plus 37 yards rushing. Redskins QB Robert Griffin III went 23-39 for 215 yards, rushed for 53 yards, and was sacked four times. The Washington Redskins have now lost three games in a row.

According to CBS News, the 2004 exception, in which President George W. Bush was re-elected despite a Redskins defeat at the hands of the Green Bay Packers, apparently has an explanation, too, according to Steve Hirdt of the Elias Sports Bureau:

“I went back and studied the ‘Redskins Rule’ data and what happened in 2004 was explained in 2000, Because Al Gore actually won the popular vote in 2000 — but lost in the Electoral College — it reversed the polarity of the subsequent election. The opposite of the usual ‘Redskins Rule’ was true.

“Redskins Rule 2.0 established that when the popular vote winner does not win the election, the impact of the Redskins’ game on the subsequent presidential election gets flipped. So, with that, the Redskins’ loss in 2004 signaled that the incumbent would remain in the White House.”

Another factoid: Since 1860, there have been six presidential elections held on November 6 and Republicans have won all six.

Do you think that the Redskins rule has any validity or is it just a coincidence?