It was a close race at

, but Barack Obama managed to win the downtown-drinker vote 1,459 to 1,271.

The Main Street bar held its own pint-by-pint poll for 2008. The contest started in early September and allowed patrons the option of ordering their beer in a $5 pint glass with either Obama or McCain’s mug on it. A sign above the bar was updated hourly from the start of the “election” and last night it topped out for Barack.

General Manager Jake Rainey tells Hair Balls the poll created quite the controversy … well, sorta.

“People see some guy bought five McCain glasses so some other guy will come over who’e a big Obama supporter and buy six,” he says. “People get really into it.”

And so did the Saucer, who collected the votes and the profit.

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“Absolutely,” Rainey says and laughs. “We’re capitalists.”

Consumer-choice polls like these actually have some clout in that sort of, we’re-not-totally-interested-in-well-researched-statistics-but-hey-it’s-pretty-interesting-how-accuarate-the-results-were-isn’t-it? way. For the past three elections (including this one) 7-11 has given coffee drinkers the option of buying a red (Republican) or blue (Democrat) cup to show support for the favorite candidate. Their poll has predicted the winner every time so far.

Cheers.

-- Dusti Rhodes