7-Eleven: Vote for president by pouring a cup of Joe (JAX Business Journal)

Convenience store chain 7-Eleven Inc. is once again rolling out its 7-Election presidential coffee cup poll.

7-Eleven coffee drinkers voice their pick for U.S. president in the informal poll by simply pouring their coffee into a red cup if they intend on voting for Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., or into a blue cup for Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

The stores’ polls open Wednesday and run through Nov. 4. Undecided voters can simply choose an unmarked 7-Eleven cup for their morning Joe. 7-Eleven stores also are offering bipartisan red, white and blue Big Gulp cups for consumers.

Dallas-based 7-Eleven has conducted the unofficial poll twice before. Nothing surprises the company more than the unofficial poll’s election accuracy.

“While we don’t bill this as a statistically valid study by any means, it does reach Americans in their hometowns, on their way to work, after school or just going about their everyday lives,” said 7-Eleven President and CEO Joe DePinto. “7-Election provides an interesting daily snapshot of the election.”

In 2000, 51.2 percent of 7-Eleven voters chose George W. Bush, compared to 48.9 percent who chose Al Gore. In the actual election, 47.9 percent of U.S. voters chose Bush, compared to 48.4 percent who chose Gore.

In 2004, 51 percent of 7-Eleven voters selected Bush and 49 percent selected John Kerry. In the actual election, 50.7 percent of U.S. voters chose Bush, compared to 48.3 percent who chose Kerry.

Woman Finds Bat In Coffee Filter

It wasn't just the caffeine that gave a Cedar Rapids, Iowa woman an extra jolt when she had her morning cup of coffee. It was the bat she found in the coffee filter.

Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Health say the woman reported seeing a bat in her house, but wasn't overly worried about it. She turned on her automatic coffee maker before she went to bed and had her coffee the next morning.

She discovered the bat in the filter of the coffee maker when she went to clean it out that night. The woman, who wasn't identified, underwent treatment for rabies.

The bat was sent to a state lab for testing, but its brain was too cooked by the heat of the brewing water to determine if it had rabies.