From this week’s _Economist_ , in the conclusion of the “leader on health care reform”:http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14753800 in the United States
bq. Mr Obama had hinted that he might be prepared to do without a public plan. That apparent concession may now be withdrawn. If so, the next _seven_ years are going to be bitterly partisan ones in Washington. (emphasis added)
Put in the books, then: the first prediction for 2012 is an Obama victory!