As one looks at the national political landscape, one fact emerges -- a lot of the results are already in.

Under the way the electoral college works, it's all or nothing for the votes in each states -- and the reality is that, from a certain perspective, one's vote really doesn't count.

We'll give you two examples: (1) if one is a Barack Obama supporter living in Utah, it may give that person warm and fuzzy feelings to vote for the Democratic candidate, but it won't amount to anything in the overall scheme of things, and (2) the same situation in reverse applies to a voter who lives in Vermont and favors John McCain.

At present, polls show the voters of Utah will go 62-27 percent for McCain in November. That may be conservative, since Bush defeated Kerry, 71-26, in 2008. Short of the world turning upside down, there is no way Obama is going to garner Utah's five electoral votes. That means a vote for Obama in Utah is, at best, a symbolic statement.

The situation is reversed in Vermont, where polls show Obama with a 63-29 percent lead over the GOP candidate. Kerry carried Vermont by a 59-39 margin in 2004.

While this statistical analysis is not necessarily meant as a call for ending the electoral college, it does show the absurdity of the system as it has developed in recent years. States generally are locked in now as either "blue" or "red" and nothing really is going to change the scenario in the short-run.

Unless something changes dramatically in the current campaign, a voter in Arkansas faces the same situation. A vote for Obama is an academic exercise. Polls show McCain with a 57-33 percent lead over the Democratic candidate. Perhaps it would be possible to change that around, but it's far from likely. Bush carried Arkansas by a 55-45 percent margin in 2004.

Taking this a step farther, Obama supporters in the South generally will have their votes counted essentially as a courtesy. There is no reason to believe the recent trend will not continue with every state in the South going for the GOP in the presidential election.

What many observers don't seem to realize, however, is the Democratic candidate can indeed win the election without capturing a single southern state. Kerry would have won if he had captured Ohio -- and he drew a blank in the South. That's why one tends to be amused when the statement is made that the Democrats are shooting themselves in the foot by not nominating a candidate with strong ties to the region. The fact of the matter is that, in present-day America, it doesn't seem to matter who the candidates are -- the South is going to vote GOP.

Despite the likely GOP sweep of the South, many may be surprised to learn the current political landscape heavily favors the Democratic candidate. An Irish betting company (which does this sort of thing for a business) has established Obama as two times more likely to win the election than McCain. That may come as something of a shock to voters in this area, but the reality is many part of the country have demographics, dynamics and economic conditions that tend to favor the Democratic camp.

Again, referring to the earlier assessment, the vast majority of the states essentially are "locked in" to one political camp or the other -- and there is virtually no chance they will change.

Here is the breakdown:

Solid Republican States -- Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming. That represents a total of 216 electoral votes.

Solid Democratic States -- California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Washington and Vermont. That represents a total of 255 electoral votes.

Leaning Republican -- Missouri with 11 electoral votes.

Leaning Democratic -- Colorado, New Mexico and Ohio, with 34 electoral votes.

Tossups -- Amazingly, only three states are considered real tossups (again, solidifying our point). They are Nevada, New Hampshire and Virginia, with 22 electoral votes.

States that are solid Democratic or leaning that way represent 289 electoral votes, with 270 needed to win. Republican votes total 227, with only 22 in the tossup category.

There you have it -- certainly not anything definitive, but from a statistical perspective it appears to be the year of the Democrat, notwithstanding the usual Southern sweep.

--REK