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Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) reportedly remains interested in launching a 2024 presidential bid on a “No Labels” ticket if President Joe Biden, 81, has a “health scare.” If he enters the race, Manchin would siphon votes from Biden, potentially dooming the president’s reelection campaign. Democrats have raised concerns for months about Biden’s 2024 chances due to poor polling about his age and physical stamina: Redfield & Wilton Strategies: A majority of Democrats are “concerned” about Biden’s ability. YouGov: Fifty-five percent say Biden’s health and age “severely” limit his ability to do the job. NBC News: Most registered voters have “major”...

As the guy who predicted here that Newt would pull out a narrow win in Florida, I have to admit I was wrong. Dead wrong.This doesn't change the fact that I was dead right about Newt's upset win in South Carolina. All the pundits were predicting a close election or a narrow win for Newt. I was alone in predicting a blow-out. The only thing I was wrong about is UNDER estimating his margin of victory. Not to make excuses, but I had sources on the ground in South Carolina. In Florida, I was limited to looking at news, polls...

This is just, of course, a prediction on my part but here's why: 1. As a former governor, he has executive experience and, from what I understand, he was a pretty good governor. After 4 years of Obozo's incompetence, the American people are longing for a competent administrator. 2. Unlike Romney, who still refuses to disavow Romneycare, Pawlenty came out of the gate admitting he was wrong on Cap and Trade. That was a smart move, and it takes takes that monkey off his back. And two other competing governors, Daniels and Huck, are out of the race. 3. Unlike...

2004-2009 Pompous Prognosticators Revisited The experts go into denial as the credit crisis unfolds By Nick Barisheff In 2001, Colin Seymour published an article entitled 1927-1933 Chart of Pompous Prognosticators. In it, he documented the many Depression-era assurances given by politicians, economists, financial experts and the media to the public, protesting that everything was fine and there was nothing to worry about. Meanwhile, the stock market would decline by 92%, the US dollar would be devalued by 40%, real estate would drop 30% and unemployment would soar to 25%. Today, we have a similar situation. Politicians, economists and the media...

  = events   = earnings     Feb 27 8:30a   GDP-Prel.      8:30a   Chain Deflator-Prel.      9:45a   Mich Sentiment-Rev.      10:00a   Chicago PMI        Mar 1 8:30a   Personal Income      8:30a   Personal Spending      10:00a   Construction Spending      10:00a   ISM Index        Mar 2     Auto Sales          Truck Sales        Mar 3 10:00a   ISM Services      2:00p   Fed's Beige Book        Mar 4 8:30a   Initial Claims      8:30a   Productivity-Rev.      10:00a   Factory Orders        Mar 5 8:30a   Nonfarm Payrolls      8:30a   Unemployment Rate      8:30a   Hourly Earnings      8:30a   Average Workweek      3:00p   Consumer Credit        Mar...

Predicting the future can be tricky. That is because many of us have a hard enough time understanding the present. One hundred years ago this week, the New York Times wrote an end-of-the-year editorial summing up the most important events of 1903. It was a long, rambling essay that took up most of a page and attempted to cover every aspect of life from foreign affairs to industry and the labor movement. One section was titled, "Invention and Discovery." The author meandered for awhile about the discovery that year of radium and its possible benefits to mankind. Then, near the...

12 Realistic, Pessimistic Predictions for the first two years of the Bush AdministrationFirst posted on December 13, 2000. PRE-ELECTION UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 25, 2002 Yesterday's (9/24) posting about a documentary of what happened in the Florida Presidential election, Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election, prompted me to examine and update my "realistic, pessimistic predictions". Though the huge impact of the September 11 attacks and subsequent related events couldn't be predicted in December 2000, I think I did reasonably well with these. (And some of them were admittedly minimal-brainers.) So, herewith for perusal and comment, a complete update. (This has been my profile...

Dales' Baseball Predictions American League East 1) New York Yankees (Last year: 95-65) Although I am penning the Yankees in as the division champions, I look at them going into this year as having a high probability of having a season much like the Braves did last year- underwhelming and vulnerable, even if they manage to hang on. Where many see one of the league's best rotations, I see an again corps with real questions at the fourth and fifth starter positions. Clemens wasn't as good as most thought last year, which is offset by the fact that Mussina was...