Can the word 'projected' in the following sentence by relpaced by 'predict'?

[Florawong]

i read in the newspaper "Obama is the projected winner in Maine, which may divide its four electoral votes among the two candidates"
can the word projected be replaced by others synonyms? and what are they?
thanks a lot

[Barb_D]

My ears always perk up when I hear "Maine" because I lived there for 15 years.

I think that "projected" has a bit more basis in fact or science. You can sometimes replace it with "predicted," but you can also predict things based on no facts at all - tea leaves, etc.

There's one other state that can do that (divide their electoral votes) I think - Nebraska, maybe? Our electoral system is SO weird sometimes.