PRWeek just published a list of predictions and reasons from a number of their regular sources this morning. Most are predicting a solid win for Barack Obama because of his ability to stay on message, unflappable demeanor, and because of the gaffes and missteps in the McCain campaign.

Meanwhile, Reputations Partners' Founder and President Nick Kalm had a counterintuitive and gloomy prediction:

"I'm going to buck conventional wisdom and predict that McCain will win--but as narrowly as Bush did in 2000. If McCain does win, it will be because he and his proxies were successful enough at painting a picture of Obama as a "risky liberal" that they were able to overcome the huge advantage in money, new and passionate voters that Obama was able to generate. The proxies (talk radio hosts, Fox News, 529 groups) are key because McCain's campaign and that of the RNC have been "erratic" (to borrow Obama's phrase).

Regardless of who wins, however, the level of partisan rancor will be so high, it will make people long for the "good old days" of Bush's second term.

Kalm and fellow Edelman exec Jane Devron, along with former Household International Director of Corporate Comm Megan Hakes founded Chicago-based Reputation Partners in 2002 to take on crisis communication for large corporations.