You bring up a valid point, I may consider it.
The original intent of this bet was to see just how many "Obama sack riders" are that confident that their boy will be President after the 2012 elections.
As it stands, people are thinking that "The Messiah" may nrabroad
even run. Oh well, that is my fault. As I said, I'm going after the true "sacriders" who are willing to take a 1 on 1 bet.
The problem with what some have suggested is that there is no way to know how many people will take up my bet, so if I say 5 months for me, and only 1 person does it, then I lose out, but if 30 people do it, then they will still whine that 90 months will be punished vs me only risking 3 months. The simplest way is just a straight up 1v1 bet.
[Edit]
Besides, in modern politics, the incumbent President usually has the advantage. So I think that pretty well balances out the "Obama vs the rest of the field". He will get tons of free air time and will automatically be invited to debate, where as a 3rd party candidate will have to jump through hoops to get on the debate.