Michael Phelps Closing Fast In Final Moments Of Presidential Elections

Story by Ben Plowman 

| Published Oct 28, 2008

After many pundits claimed he had almost no chance of closing the distance between himself and the two leading candidates in time for the Nov. 4 presidential elections, Michael Phelps is now polling strongly in key swing states like Ohio and Florida in the final week before Americans go to the polls.

In three recent Gallup polls, Phelps has gained five percentage points.

If this trend continues over the next week, it could mean that Phelps has enough momentum to secure the 270 electoral votes needed to become the next president of the United States, squeaking past his opponents at the last moment.

Phelps came into the public eye during this past summer’s Olympics in Beijing where he won the most gold medals in a single Olympics than any other athlete in modern history.

NBC correspondent Bob Costas, who covered Phelps’s triumphant quest for eight gold medals, said, “This is why Michael Phelps is the greatest competitor alive today. He is on the verge of the greatest political comeback in the history of American politics.”

Research into Phelps’s past has revealed that he has almost no leadership experience and has never held a public office.

As a result, however, he also lacks the political blunders and alleged connections to domestic terrorists or corrupt officials that often mar the campaigns of Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain.

“Some people say that there isn’t time for me to make up the ground I’ve lost so far in this race, but then again, it’s not the first time they’ve said I’ve set out to do the impossible,” said Phelps while at a political rally in front of the pool at the Qwest Center.

He then dove into the pool and broke his own world record in the 200-meter butterfly.

The campaign has already seen its share of scandal, as Obama launched a video last week from his Web site, revealing that, because Phelps is only 23, he falls short of the minimum age of 35 required to become president.

But Phelps’ campaign adviser wrote an e-mail to supporters, assuring them Phelps won’t lose.

“I’ve never seen Phelps get second place in anything. I don’t know why he would start now,” he wrote.

Phelps has said he is “almost certain” that his vice president will be his mother and hero, Deborah “Debbie” Phelps, and that his cabinet will probably include his two sisters and biggest fans, Whitney and Hilary Phelps.

When asked where they stand on current issues like the bailout or the war in Iraq, all three women were reportedly too choked up by Phelps’s recent performance in the presidential race to comment.