Since the best players in the country have resolutely refused to give shape to the Heisman Trophy race this season, the task has fallen to the calendar. With less than one month before the votes come due on Dec. 12, there's nary a front-runner in sight. Picture a snowy New Hampshire day in January 2004, one month before the primary, and not a single Democratic candidate has distinguished himself (after last week's election, that can't be hard to do).

	Willis McGahee (1,188 yards, 17 TDs) has three more games to impress the Heisman voters.

The good news is that, in one month, we may have an election night every bit as exciting to watch as the recent mid-term elections. Like last week, there are no polls that can give any meaningful prediction as to the outcome. This Heisman race has more favorite sons than it has favorites. There's a potential winner in every part of the country.

If my television colleagues borrowed ABC's election night map, the Midwest would light up in the gold of Iowa quarterback Brad Banks. The Rocky Mountain states will display the subtler gold of Colorado tailback Chris Brown. The Pacific Northwest will be awash in the maroon of Washington State quarterback Jason Gesser. Given Lee Corso's accuracy this season, he will don the Gator head midway through the show and predict the winner will be Rex Grossman.

The state of Florida, as is its custom, is home of the biggest voting controversy of the Heisman race. It will be colored in Hurricane green, but for which player? Senior quarterback Ken Dorsey has a 35-1 record as a starter. Dorsey is smart. No matter the defensive wrinkle thrown at him, he solves it by the fourth quarter. He is a leader's leader.

He's also not even the best player on his team. That distinction belongs to tailback Willis McGahee, who has a combination of power and speed unlike anyone else in college football. Dorsey's defenders make the case that the Hurricanes wouldn't be 9-0 this season, and wouldn't have a 31-game winning streak, without Dorsey's leadership. They're right. But the Heisman is given to "the most outstanding college football player in the United States." It is not the most valuable player award. It is not designed to be an award for career achievement.

Dorsey's candidacy is the second coming of Gino Torretta, who won the Heisman in 1992, a similarly lackluster year. San Diego State tailback Marshall Faulk couldn't overcome the voters' concerns about the strength of the Aztecs' schedule. No one else stepped in to win. Torretta took home the trophy, then went to the Sugar Bowl, where the Alabama defense exposed his lack of arm strength and immobility with devastating effect.

Brown and Larry Johnson of Penn State, two of the top tailback candidates, both have bulked up on empty calories, feasting on poor defenses. A good case may be made for Banks, who leads the nation in passing efficiency while leading the Hawkeyes to the brink of a Big Ten championship.

USC's Carson Palmer, deemed an underachiever for three seasons, already has secured an invitation to the Senior Bowl, given only to the players that the NFL coaches and scouts want to examine. "That ol' boy ought to win the Heisman," said Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville, whose Tigers lost to the Trojans, 24-17, in the season opener. "He would be my choice."

But you know what? We shouldn't have to try and decide whether Banks' ratio of 23 touchdowns to only four interceptions is more impressive than Palmer's 63 percent completion rate and 305-yard passing average is more impressive than Dorsey's leadership, etc., etc.. Players ought to make that decision for the voters. Heisman winners identify themselves. They not only make plays, they make The Play.

The Heisman is given to "the most outstanding college football player in the United States." It is not the most valuable player award. It is not designed to be an award for career achievement.

In recent years, the winner has been defined by that breathtaking moment that captures their talent in one game-breaking snap. Eric Crouch did so against Oklahoma last season. Ricky Williams removed all doubt in 1999 with his record-breaking burst against Texas A&M. Nearly every Heisman winner has had that moment. If they haven't, they simply have played at a level head and shoulder pads above the rest (Danny Wuerffel in 1996, Rashaan Salaam in 1994).

The candidates for this year's trophy have done neither. Iowa State quarterback Seneca Wallace made enough Plays in the first half of the season for everyone. Then he ran into the meat of the Big 12 schedule.

If there's a performance waiting out there to electrify the electorate, it had better hurry. Without it, the voters have Dorsey's cool efficiency. That's not enough to win. Without the excitement of having a player win the Heisman on a Saturday afternoon, we will have only the excitement of a suspense-filled Election Night.

Ivan Maisel is a senior writer for ESPN.com. E-mail him at ivan.maisel@espn3.com.