What's sure in US election outcome

Presidential elections in the US always bring surprises and even shocks in their long and tortuous process from start to finish. The 2008 election has been tracing a kind of record in this phenomenon, as its campaign marches toward culmination. It was more than a surprise - much like a shock - when Hillary Clinton was beaten by Barack Obama in the race to win Democratic presidential nomination. A second term sitting senator, a daughter of the soil, with eight years of complimentary publicity and popular public image at home and abroad as America's First Lady and having considerable exposure to compulsions of US domestic and foreign policy interests, defeated by a raw senator, fathered by a non-American, African national, previously unknown internationally and within America, and with no experience in foreign affairs.
My own estimate, made as the primaries began, that Hillary would win the nomination and then the final race, evaporated into thin air. The surprise of surprises was the reported reason for Hillary's defeat - scarcity of funds! Remember, she was the darling of the corporate bosses when she entered the race. For more insight, see the cover story Business Loves Hillary in Fortune (July 9, 2007). Her campaign chest was said to be brimming over with inflow of funds before the Iowa primary in January 2008.
The election surprises evoked interesting comments in The Economist (Oct 4, 2008): "It has been a time of miracles and wonders. Hillary Clinton, the 'inevitable' Democratic nominee, was beaten by a man who was barely out of law school when she was trying to reform the nation's health-care system; and that man, Barack Obama, has become the darling of the world. John McCain, whose campaign was given up for dead last year, improbably surged past all his rivals to seize the Republican nomination."
This chapter is not yet closed. There are likely to be more, and unsettling, surprises before, on or after the day of voting, November 4. The media reports Obama has notched up a clear lead over McCain besides gaining endorsement from some leading newspapers and several high-profile personalities. But, is it certain he is going to win the election? One cannot be sure. The Economist, quoted above, goes on to say: "And most surprising of all, at a time when the Democrats surely cannot lose, they still just might." Who knows the person in the White House eventually might be McCain or, by a quirk of fate, Joe Biden or Sarah Palin!
Enough of surprises. We should focus on what won't be surprising, what is going to be sure, with the new team in the White House. Whoever is the next US president, Barack Obama or John McCain, there are some matters of policies and circumstances that his administration will surely face or undertake.