Doons-buried

By GottaLaff

Detail of the Nov. 5 "Doonesbury" comic, which predicts Barack Obama is elected.

In keeping with the lervely Nate Silver's analyses, Garry Trudeau is counting on an Obama win, and the papers are all jittery about it:

Garry Trudeau's "Doonesbury" is predicting a victory for Barack Obama, and newspaper editors around the country are debating whether to publish the comic no matter the results of the election.

Wednesday's strip is set in Iraq and features military characters huddled around a television that proclaims "And it's official -- Barack Obama has won. . . ."

In an e-mail to The Times, Trudeau said newspapers should run the strip because ". . . polling data gives McCain a 3.7% chance of victory. There's a greater risk that their presses will break down on election day. So I've been encouraging editors to choose hope over fear. And reminding them that if I'm wrong, it'll be my face that'll be covered with egg, not theirs."

Trudeau said he's not worried about the comic if his prediction is wrong. "I'd be a lot more worried about the country than the strip. One reporter has already suggested I just carry on with an alternative universe in which Obama wins. It's not a crazy idea . . . "

In what he must have considered to be a witty retort, Gramm-pa's favorite spokesmoron came back with:

From the John McCain camp, spokesman Tucker Bounds said: "We hope the strip proves to be as predictive as it is consistently lame."

Calling Doonsebury "lame" is like calling IWRC* Palin "competent".

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"