Redskins Rule Bodes Well For Mitt Romney

The Carolina Panthers beat the Redskins in Washington on Sunday, which should translate into a win for Mitt Romney on Election Day, if history is any indication.

How do we figure? It's the remarkably accurate Redskins Rule that forecasts the result of presidential elections.

Here's what the Redskins Rule means: If the Redskins win their last home game before the presidential election, then the incumbent party retains the White House. If the Redskins lose, then the incumbent party is voted out.

The Redskins Rule has been correct 17 of 18 times.

The Panthers, who entered Sunday with a five-game losing streak, won 21-13 at FedEx Field thanks in part to four sacks of Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III.

The rule traces all the way back to 1940, the first presidential election year in which the Redskins were playing in Washington. But it wasn't discovered until 2000 when Steve Hirdt of the Elias Sports Bureau was doing research in advance of the Monday Night Football game between the Redskins and Titans in Washington a week before the election.

The only exception has been 2004 when the Redskins lost to the Packers. According to the rule, that meant incumbent president George W. Bush should've lost the election to John Kerry. But after Bush won, Hirdt fine-tuned the language of the rule to account for this blip.

But even without the revision, a 94.4 percent success rate is difficult to ignore.