Sometimes it helps to be part of the Coalition of the Willing.

Every major broadcaster in the world is vying for a little bit of prime real estate 3 feet wide and 8 feet deep. There are 62 of these plots of land -- and everybody wants one. Because on election night they'll be the live positions overlooking the podium at the Washington convention centre where George W.Bush will make his victory or concession speech. They'll be banked up on a scaffolding tower four stories high.

If you're French or from Al Jazeera you can forget about getting a place on the riser. But thanks to Tony Blair and his special relationship with the Commander in Chief the Brits are looked on kindly by the Republican National Committee -- and our chances of getting a space are good.

Meanwhile, the BBC Washington bureau is being transformed.

Offices are being turned into broadcast control rooms, lengths of cable snake up the walls like ivy and TV monitors are sprouting like weeds.

On election night the bureau will be packed tighter than a barn full of battery chickens.

I wish I could claim some secret intelligence over the way the election will go but we're reading the tea leaves and trying to second guess the electorate in exactly the same way as everyone else.

My gut is still predicting a Bush victory -- especially following the airing yesterday of the Osama Bin Laden video -- but in truth no-one can really say for sure.