For the last four presidential elections, Family Circle magazine has asked the presidential candidates’ spouses to submit their favorite cookie recipes. The recipes are published in the July issue, released this week, and readers can vote for their favorite. The winner is announced the night before Election Day.

Historically, the cookie bake-off has been a good elections predictor. The candidate whose spouse submitted the winning recipe has won the presidential election every time.

The 2008 recipes are Michelle Obama’s shortbread cookies, Cindy McCain’s oatmeal-butterscotch cookies and Bill Clinton’s oatmeal cookies. (The magazine went to press before Hillary Clinton withdrew from the campaign.)

There has already been some cookie controversy: it seems Clinton’s recipe is very similar to a Betty Crocker recipe and McCain’s butterscotch-oatmeal cookies are nearly identical to those found on chocolate manufacturer Hershey Company’s Web site. Family Circle has been quick to dismiss claims of plagiarism, saying that the magazine never required the spouses to submit original recipes.

This is not the first time McCain has faced such accusations. In April it was discovered that a set of “Cindy’s Recipes” found on the John McCain Web site are recipes from the Food Network television channel. The campaign apologized for the incident.