Even the pollsters couldn’t have predicted the closeness of this year’s presidential election. &uot;I’m just sitting back watching it like everybody else,&uot; said William Feltus IV in a phone interview Friday from his home outside Washington, D.C.

A Natchez native, Feltus is a pollster with SpeakOut.com, a relatively new Internet forum that seeks out new ways to conduct surveys over the Internet than the traditional phone method.

As the director for SpeakOut Decisions, Feltus appeared on both Fox News and MSNBC to give analysis of polls results following the presidential nomination speeches and the debates.

Though he knew all along the presidential race was close, Feltus said he is just as surprised as the rest of the country that almost one week after Election Day, the White House is still up for grabs.

&uot;After the conventions, it was clear that it would be close,&uot; he said. &uot;They both had very good performances.&uot;

Feltus said the race became even more interesting following the series of televised debates.

Everyone expected Vice President Al Gore to sweep the debates, but an overall win by Texas Gov. George W. Bush pushed the two even closer in the polls, Feltus said.

Feltus said the closeness of the 2000 presidential election is a flashback to the 1960 Nixon-Kennedy race. &uot;That was the first (presidential) election I can remember,&uot; he said. &uot;I can remember going to bed and not knowing who the president was.&uot;

Always &uot;politically-minded,&uot; Feltus served as staff director of the Republican caucus in the U.S. Senate for seven years and as the national communication director for the 1992 Bush-Quayle campaign.

Feltus is the son of William and Betty Feltus of Natchez.