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Election Center
 

What are your election predictions?

By Flora Zhang, CNN
updated 3:59 PM EST, Mon February 11, 2013
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, order food at a Wendy's restuarant in Richmond Heights, Ohio, on Tuesday. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, order food at a Wendy's restuarant in Richmond Heights, Ohio, on Tuesday.
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • CNN contributors tweeted their predictions on who will win on Tuesday
  • Hilary Rosen predicts President Obama will be re-elected with 276 electoral votes
  • Ari Fleischer thinks Mitt Romney will win with a minimum of 271 electoral votes
  • Readers: Who do you think will win? Offer us your predictions on @CNNOpinion

CNN is covering Election Day right now on CNN TV, CNN.com and via CNN's mobile apps. Check up-to-the-minute results at cnn.com/results and join our live blog at cnn.com/conversation. Need other reasons to spend Election Day with CNN? Here's our list.

(CNN) -- After a campaign season that seems to have gone on for years, the day has finally arrived. On Tuesday, America will select a president of the United States, about a third of the Senate and a new House of Representatives. We invited CNN contributors to tweet their predictions.

Readers: Who do you think will win? Tweet your predictions by including the hashtag #electionwin and mentioning @CNNOpinion. You can include predictions on the margin of victory, Electoral College vote, control of Senate or the House. We will compile the most accurate tweet predictions and add them to this collection after the election. Please join us and weigh in on the 2012 election.

One of the first CNN contributors to announce his prediction on Twitter was Alex Castellanos. In his latest column, he explains why he's betting fellow Republican Mitt Romney will win.

Democratic strategist Paul Begala disagrees with Castellanos' prediction. Right after the first presidential debate in which some were underwhelmed by President Barack Obama's performance, Begala remarked, "There is no doubt Romney had a good night. But I strongly doubt whether it was good enough." Begala's tweet reflects his prediction of a narrow win for Obama.

Castellanos and Begala saw each other's predictions and plan to duel it out with a wager. Stay tuned to see who has to shave his moustache or grow one.

Hilary Rosen, a Democratic strategist, is positive about the outcome for her party.

Politics: Long lines, sporadic snags in U.S. election

Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary in the George W. Bush administration, suspects that the election won't end Tuesday night -- that seven states could be decided by one percentage point or less. And if Romney can take Pennsylvania and Ohio, it "would be icing on the cake."

John Avlon, a contributor to "Erin Burnett OutFront," said Sunday that the stakes are especially high in this election. Regardless of who wins, he says, "We cannot continue to allow extreme partisan distortions to define our policy debates and paralyze our capacity for constructive self-government." Avlon said he thinks Democrats have an edge.

Politics: Why elephants? Election riddles solved

Maria Cardona, former communications director for the Democratic National Committee, sees Obama getting the Latino vote.

Conservative William Bennett, who believes that "Romney has proven himself the man to lead America's comeback," predicts that victory will also go to his candidate.

David Gergen, who has been an adviser to four presidents, notes that polls indicate the president got an important bump off of Hurricane Sandy.

LZ Granderson, a CNN regular, makes a case for why he's rooting for Obama, saying that while the incumbent is not perfect, his concern for those less fortunate makes him worthy of a second term.

Across the Atlantic, English historian Timothy Stanley offers his thoughts on the American election.

Want to share your election prediction? Tweet it out by including the hashtag #electionwin and mentioning @CNNOpinion.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the authors.

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