Washington - Slate, the daily online news and entertainment magazine owned by The Washington Post, said that it has launched a 2008 Political Futures Database, which uses data from three prediction markets to forecast the outcome of 2008 Presidential and Congressional races.

In a political prediction market, people wager (either real or play money) on the outcome of campaigns, with winning bettors collecting after the elections. Economists argue that these markets tend to be more accurate than pre-election polls.

"A single person's bet on an election outcome isn't very good, but thousands of bets, with real stakes, are more likely to predict the correct result than even the best pundit," said David Plotz, Slate's DC editor.

From now until Election Day 2008, Slate will publish hourly updates of the key data from Iowa Electronic Markets, Intrade.com and Casualobserver.net, beginning with the Republican and Democratic Presidential primary races and later adding Congressional races.

Related Links:
http://specials.slate.com/futures/2008