A political pundit who has correctly predicted every single presidential race since 1984 says President Obama will win re-election in 2012. Allan Lichtman, American University professor and author of The Keys to the White House, predicts 2012 is in the bag for Obama, Washington Whispers reports.

“Even if I am being conservative, I don’t see how Obama can lose," he said.

Among the things working for Obama, according to Washington Whispers: "Working for the president are several of Lichtman’s keys, tops among them incumbency and the scandal-free nature of his administration. Undermining his re-election is a lack of charisma and leadership on key issues, says Lichtman, even including healthcare, Obama’s crowning achievement."

Texas Gov. Rick Perry seems to be doing quite well in the polls, with another one showing him leading his closest challenger by double digits. According to a new poll from CNN and ORC International, Perry leads former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by 13 points, 27 to 14 percent. Key finding from this poll, and other recent polls: Perry's surge is coming mostly from Tea Party support.

Said CNN Polling Director Perry Holland: "Perry's biggest support comes from Republicans who say they are supporters of the tea party movement - he wins 37 percent of their vote - but he also edges Romney by a couple of points among Republicans who don't call themselves tea party supporters."

 

The former chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell says Dick Cheney "was president for all practical purposes for the first term of the Bush administration" and "fears being tried as a war criminal," ABC News reports. 

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson was responding to criticism leveled against his former boss in Dick Cheney's newly released memoir, In My Time.

"I can't speak to the psychosomatic or the genetic problems with heart attacks or whatever, but I can speak to power," Wilkerson said. "He wanted desperately to be president of the United States … he knew the Texas governor was not steeped in anything but baseball, so he knew he was going to be president and I think he got his dream.

"I simply don't recognize Mr. Cheney anymore" Wilkerson said, calling Cheney a "very vindictive person."

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann says her comment that Hurricane Irene and a recent earthquake were messages from God were just a joke.  "Of course I was being humorous when I said that. It would be absurd to think it was anything else," the Minnesota congresswoman said at a campaign event in Miami. "I am a person who loves humor. I have a great sense of humor."