TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The flyers stick out, most of them in a neon pink, yellow or purple color. Some of them offer pools and a clubhouse, others a high-speed Internet connection.

Whatever your fancy, if you have the cash, or a corporate credit card for that matter, there's a bed for you to sleep on in this state's capitol through the weekend. But that's only thanks to many area residents and college students looking to make a quick buck by opening their homes or dorm rooms for rent.

	FSU students Jamie Davis, left, and Andrew St. John appeal to members of the media who might need a place to stay.

It's all thanks to the Electoral College, right? Well, not really -- but sort of. The nation's biggest political story in recent memory has collided head-on with the best college football rivalry of the 1990s.

Fans of both Florida and Florida State circle this late-November date every year, making hotel reservations months in advance. So the national news media, which has occupied a number of the city's hotel rooms since election night in Tallahassee, are being asked to leave to make room for the football folk.

One political reporter, checking out of her hotel mumbled, "Don't these people realize a presidential election is way more important than a football game?"

Guess not. While an estimated 300 news media are already in town for election purposes, an additional 600 sportswriters and broadcasters are expected for Saturday's nationally-televised football game. Not to mention the 80,000 fans that will fill Doak Campbell Stadium -- many of whom travel from long distances and stay overnight.

Thus, you have capitalism at its finest. All over the state capitol, flyers are posted, offering rooms and even homes for a night or a week. They go from the simple -- a handwritten flyer duct-taped to the stairs of the capitol offering a room with an Internet connection -- to the extraordinary -- a graphics savvy ad for a 4-bedroom, 2-bath home, including fitness loft, swimming pool and use of the Jacuzzi.

"It's become a competition of who can offer the nicest room at the best price," said Florida State grad Jeremy Webb, who still lives in the area and is offering a spare bedroom in his house for $125 a night. "I think I have one of the nicer deals -- clean, neat, your own bathroom, Internet connections and still less than $200."

The scene downtown is reminiscent of Brentwood the days after O.J. fled in his white Bronco. The streets surrounding the capitol grounds are two-deep in television trucks, with antennas, spotlights and wires pouring out of each vehicle.

	TV wires, food debris and a flyer offering room rentals litter the ground near the steps to the Senate Office Building.

The thick black wires traipse their way throughout downtown -- through fountains, around pillars, under bushes, in trees and up stairs. Everywhere you turn you have to climb over it.

And mixed throughout this mess is students of all ages. From college students to elementary students whose teachers have brought them into the eye of the political storms on field trips. As reporters track down the latest court ruling or hanging chad analysis, there's Mrs. Smyth's fourth-grade class, waving to the camera as they walk by.

While all this reporting and bartering for living space takes place, just a few blocks away Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden, lazily rides along in his golf cart, overseeing the machine that is his third-ranked football team.

It's a blending of two very different, but very similar structures -- politics and sports.

"I've never seen anything like this -- all these lawyer's running around and everything," Bowden said. "You see truck after truck after truck with antennas. It's the biggest game of the year for us and then you have all these people here from across the world here too."

Add to the drama that, at least for now, it looks like the winner of the election will be announced Saturday, just as Florida and Florida State fans are starting to put their war paint on for the 8 p.m. kickoff.

And which outcome is more important -- the presidency or a shot at college football's national championship? Bowden answers that question in a flash.

"Of the two big things that are going to be decided in Tallahassee this weekend, the minor one is who wins the presidency as far as the food at my table is concerned."

Is that right?

"No doubt it should probably be the election," Bowden said. "But it's 50-50 right now, and we're waiting for those write-in votes from overseas."

Bowden is probably being kind to his political counterparts by offering a 50-50 balance. Just look across the street from the capitol, where T-shirt vendors are starting pick up on the craze of this weekend to understand the ever-changing nature of this city's pulse.

"Bush vs. Gore," one shirt reads, "This weekend's other big game."

Wayne Drehs is a staff writer at ESPN.com.