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Reader question: Please explain this sentence: “A new poll shows the margin between the two candidates... has closed to a virtual dead heat.” My comments: In other words, the race is too close to call. Have to wait and see, till a clear winner is, well, foreseeable. The two candidates have garnered more or less the same number of points, according to the new or latest poll. In the earlier polls, the margin between the two were sometimes large, meaning one of them enjoying a big lead over the other, but right now, the margin is very small, so small that it’s a virtual dead heat. Virtual means, in effect, close or near. Virtual reality, for instance, is not reality but almost – almost for real. “Dead heat”, on the other hand, is a phrase that needs more explanation. Dead heat is most commonly seen in sports coverage, describing a competition where two runners finish a race in identical time at the finish line, therefore a photo finish, where camera footages are used, or an extra session (playoff) is needed before one man is declared champion and the other mere also-run. Literally, dead heat means a tied race. When the scores are tied in a basketball game, for example, both teams score the same points, say, 69-69. Dead, in the sense that it has failed to produce a result. Heats, for this purpose, are the preliminary rounds of a long competition. All the first few rounds of the Olympic swimming, for example, are called heats. After the heats, players with the better results advance into semi-finals and the finals, when the champion emerges as winner of the competition and Olympic Champion. | 
