These are nothing more than placeholders, based on nothing more than a random reading of the tea leaves this morning. Obviously, a lot could happen in the next one to five years, and these predictions could easily prove to be very, very wrong. But what the hell.

1. Concerned independents and a re-motivated base will hand Republicans control of the House of Representatives in 2010, but not the Senate.

2. A recovered economy and not-worse (potentially improved) foreign policy outlook will combine to give President Obama a second term in 2012.

3. The chattering classes will finally, thankfully grow tired of Sarah Palin and relegate her to a political history footnote by or before 2014.