Italian vote heads for stalemate

Oh goody, more drama.

Uncertainty was looming in Italy after neck-and-neck election results looked set to stall the formation of a new parliament even as opposition leader Romano Prodi made a disputed claim of victory over Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Wait a minute...this has all happened before. I can't remember where. A too-close-to-call election, premature claims of victory, I can't shake the feeling I've been there before. Now if I could only remember how that turned out.

Near-final returns Tuesday put Prodi's center-left coalition narrowly ahead of Berlusconi, but the result appeared to hinge on ballots cast by Italians living abroad.

Too close to call. There was an American election very, very similiar to this but I can't seem to remember who was involved...

However, with no clear majority and a yawning divide between parliament's two coalitions, it may fall to Italy's president to form a caretaker government of with the prospect of calling another election.

Oh my God...I remember how the too-close-to-call election came out for us here in America. Run Italian people...RUN!!!