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The presidential election is just days away, but President Obama doesn’t stand a chance — if you believe a squirrel, a couple of cockroaches and a collection of dog poop.

 

Every four years, the New Jersey Pest Management Association holds its Running of the Roaches and lets two Madagascar hissing cockroaches stand in for the Republican and Democratic nominees in a race down a 3-foot-long track. On Aug. 16, the roach with a caricature of Romney taped to his back was the first to cross the finish line.

 

Although Leonard Douglen, executive director of the NJPMA, admits that the roaches aren’t always right, he’s quick to point out that in 2008, the NJPMA’s Obama roach crawled to a victory.

 

"We have an 84 percent prediction rate," Douglen told the New Jersey Star-Ledger.

 

Jim Coniglione, owner of Scoopy Doo, a dog-poop collection service in Long Island, N.Y., echoed the roaches’ prediction last week with a peculiar reason of his own: Most of the feces he’s collected resembles the former Massachusetts governor.

 

Coniglione, a self-proclaimed "Turd Whisperer," cites the economy as the reason behind Romney’s future win.

 

"People are giving their dogs cheaper dog food and the dogs are producing more 'product,' and that looks more like Romney," Coniglione told The Huffington Post.

 

Coniglione claims he’s been able to correctly predict the winners of the 2000, 2004 and 2008 presidential elections by analyzing his clients’ dog poop.

 

Finally, a squirrel in South Carolina has also predicted a Republican win.

 

Last week, Gnocchi, a pet squirrel that owners Serena and Chris Ash rescued in 2003, was provided with two bowls of walnuts representing each of the candidates. Whichever bowl he empties first is said to be the winner of the presidential election.

 

On Oct. 18, Gnocchi finished off Romney’s walnuts first, declaring him the 45th president of the United States. The Ashes say Gnocchi correctly predicted Obama’s win in 2008.

 

Check out the NJPMA’s presidential cockroach derby in the video below.

 

 

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