An author and political analyst doubts this presidential election will be a repeat of 2000 -- with one candidate winning the popular vote but losing in the Electoral College.
With the election still considered close, political pundits suggest that Mitt Romney may win the popular vote, but Barack Obama will be re-elected by the Electoral College. If that comes to pass, it would mark the first time that an incumbent president would be re-elected after a majority of the electorate voted to throw him out of office.
Tara Ross, author of Enlightened Democracy: The Case for the Electoral College, knows that scenario would leave conservatives disappointed.
"It will disappoint me, in all candor, but it doesn't undermine the value of the institution," Ross admits.
"Conservatives should resist the temptation to criticize and take down the Electoral College just because it doesn't work out for them in one particular presidential election year," she continues.
But Ross doubts there will be a repeat of 2000, when Al Gore won the popular vote by a little more than 500,000 votes but lost to George W. Bush in the Electoral College.
"Normally the margin is magnified in the Electoral College. I'm not really envisioning the super-close margin that we had in 2000," the analyst comments. "I could be wrong, but I would be surprised if it happened. And I think that Governor Romney will have a mandate if he wins under that circumstance. So I'm not as worried about it as some people are."
Ross points out that people in 1980 predicted a tight race between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, and it turned out to be a landslide for Reagan.