Posted: 10/24/2012
Last Updated: 4 hours ago

Polls may show a hotly contested presidential election. But sales of Halloween masks of the candidates are already calling the race. President Obama masks have been outselling those of his Republican challenger Mitt Romney by a 60 percent to 40 percent margin, according to Spirit Halloween, the country's largest seasonal Halloween retailer.

The 1,000-store chain even has its own "presidential index," which uses nationwide sales of candidates' masks to predict the outcome of the most important U.S. election every four years.
As unscientific as the methodology may be, Spirit Halloween has accurately predicted the election winner by charting national mask sales since it started keeping track in 1996.