A group of non-traditional polls indicates voters have not yet made up their minds about their choice for president, but at least one shows Ross Perot's campaign flushed away -- and that could be a good omen for the Texas billionaire.
A northwest Iowa radio station asked its listeners to flush on cue for the candidate of their choice, then measured the drop in water level in the town's water tank.
Customers of a laundromat chain came clean on their choices for president by selecting specially designated washing machines.
A shoe repair shop asked customers to do some sole-searching in making their choices.
Hillary Clinton was among the customers who participated in a jelly bean poll in Kansas.
And New York barflies left Perot on the rocks.
KEMB radio in Emmetsburg, Iowa, staged its presidential toilet-flush poll this week for the fourth time and more listeners flushed for Perot than Bush or Democratic challenger Bill Clinton.
The poll has been right two out of three times so far -- picking Ronald Reagan in 1980 and Bush in 1988.
'We were wrong in 1984,' station spokesman Brian Schmidt said. 'Northwest Iowa went for Mondale-Ferraro.'
The results of this year's 'cess-poll' gave Perot 452 flushes to 339 for Bush and 226 for Clinton.
'If a candidate's campaign is going down the toilet, it's not necessarily all bad,' Schmidt said.
Clean Duds Inc. of Des Moines, Iowa, which has 80 laundromats nationwide, polled customers Monday through Thursday at its Duds 'n Suds operations. Washing machines were labeled with the candidates' names. Every load washed in a machine labeled with a candidate's name was counted as a vote for that candidate.
To avoid making customers wait if no machine bearing the name of their preferred candidate was unavailable, the laundromat allowed customers to use a different candidate's machine -- then advise the tally keeper to void the vote for the 'machine' candidate and record it for their choice.
Clinton came away clean with 5,976 votes, or 42.6 percent, to 4,580 votes for Bush, 32.6 percent, and 3,478 for Perot, 24.8 percent.
'We can't say it's a wash. The results aren't close enough,' Clean Duds founder Philip G. Akin said. 'We're not quite sure what the spin doctors will say. We're sure it's going leave Bush and Perot agitated but the candidates aren't all washed up yet.'
Shoe repairman Ron Asby of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, asked his customers to 'vote your soul with sole.' Asby encouraged his customers to place a piece of shoe sole in one of three slots labeled for the leading presidential contenders. Perot sewed up the contest. Of the 99 pieces of sole placed in the slots, 56 went to Perot. Bush came in second with 33 and Clinton was a distant third with 10.
A Lawrence, Kan., candy shop asked customers to drop jelly beans in jars labeled for the candidates. As of Friday, Clinton had a 5-pound lead on Bush at Ye Olde Sugarosity Shoppe, 16.85 pounds to 11.01 pounds. Perot trailed with 4 pounds and perrenial candidate Harold Stassen had 0.89 pounds.
Hillary Clinton contributed to the jely bean poll during a visit to the University of Kansas earlier this month, dropping a red cinnamon bean into the jar marked for her husband.
A 'swizzle stick' poll of New York City pubcrawlers finds that 46 percent of the Big Apple's barflies think Bill Clinton is headed for the White House, while Bush -- the president not the brewery -- tapped out at 33 percent, leaving Perot on the rocks with 21 percent.
The poll, conducted by FYI-BARS, which compiles a guide to dining and nightlife, questioned 400 drinkers around Manhattan watering holes.
On Monday, a Milwaukee radio station will sponsor a blood drive-exit poll. Donors will be asked to state their presidential preference on the way out.
