Obama a Shoe-in, Say Bookies

Barack Obama's increasing lead in the polls just two weeks out from the 2008 US presidential election is being mirrored by his shortening odds in the race for the US presidency.

Obama is now a stunning 1/10 favorite (Ladbrokes), making the task for his opponent John McCain, 11/2, seem nigh on impossible.

So strong is Obama's lead that his odds of winning over 370 of the 538 Electoral College votes on offer have narrowed to 15/8. The odds on him winning by the narrowest of margins, 270 to 289 votes, are at 12/1, which incidentally is the same chance McCain is given of winning by that slim margin.

Betting options
In an effort to keep things interesting, Ladbrokes online is offering some new types of betting, including the McCain Firewall Finder. In this category, a list of 27 states is given in a specific order, with odds next to each state beginning with the key battleground states of Iowa, Michigan and Pennsylvania. The guideline is to see how far down the list you go until finding a state McCain wins in the election (e.g. if McCain loses Iowa and Michigan but wins Pennsylvania, then Pennsylvania will be the winner). The shortest odds are on Indiana, 14th on the list, at 7/1.

Betting is still available on several key states, although as expected Obama is a raging favorite in most of them. North Carolina (Obama 4/7, McCain 5/4), and West Virginia (Obama 8/11, McCain evens) are expected to go right down to the wire.