Take with food (and a grain of salt)

It's common to see "Take Medication With Food" labels affixed to prescription drug containers. I'm told that taking vitamins with food is also a good idea (your body absorbs the ingredients better or something). The same may apply to political meds. Dr. Allan Lichtman, an American University professor, has a winning prescription for calling presidential elections. US News & World Report reports Lichtman has a "belated birthday present for Barack Obama: Rest easy, your re-election is in the bag." Using 13 "keys," the professor has accurately predicted every election since Reagan's 1984 re-election. The keys range from party mandates and social unrest to foreign policy successes or losses. "They test the performance of the party that holds the presidency. If six or more of the 13 keys go against the party in power, then the opposing party wins," reports USN. Per Lichtman, Obama has already pocketed nine of the keys. So he's a slam-dunk for re-election in 2012. Although my key-less intuition agrees with the good professor, I'd still advise taking Lichtman's meds with a big grain of salt.