Odds and ends for November 6

Subscribe Now Choose a package that suits your preferences.
Start Free Account Get access to 7 premium stories every month for FREE!
Already a Subscriber? Current print subscriber? Activate your complimentary Digital account.

Obama the winner, witch doctor says

Obama the winner, witch doctor says

KOGELO, Kenya (AP) — Here in President Barack Obama’s ancestral village in Kenya, witch doctor John Dimo tossed some shells, bones and other items to determine who will win today’s election.

After throwing the objects like so many dice outside his hut in Kogelo village, Dimo, who says he is 105 years old, points to a white shell and declares: “Obama is very far ahead and is definitely going to win.”

It’s not a surprising result in Kogelo, Obama’s late father’s hometown in western Kenya and where expectations of another Obama election victory were high on Monday.

Most Kenyans consider Obama, the son of a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya, as one of their own. Barack Obama has five Kenyan half-brothers and a half-sister.