Mark my words. Obama will be re-elected in 2012. His handlers are brilliant and he has intentionally focused on health care, finance, student loans and immigration reforms purposefully, in that order.

I see some undeniable parallels with the political framework of 1994. I lived in Seattle at the time and worked hard to elect Republicans to state and federal offices with great success. Nine Republicans were elected to office in one of the most liberal cities/states in the U.S.

Hillary Care, Goal 2000 and high taxes were key issues that spurred our success. In 1995 I ran for countywide office against the Democrat machine by coat tailing the previous year's successes. Polling showed that myself and most fellow Republicans possessed a 3-5 point lead right up until summer.

Then Timothy McVeigh bombed the Morrow Building in Oklahoma City. The local, very liberal media had a field day with the tragedy and laid the blame at the feet of the evil 'Right Wing' and attached the militia movement and anti government groups, successfully, to the Republican Party. I lost by 3 percentage points. Never underestimate how low people will go when they are already down there anyway.

The Republicans will gain some seats next election but not nearly as many as they project. Remember, Hillary Care was defeated and Bill was still re-elected in 1996. Obama Care is now the law. The Democrats now have 30,000,000 new constituents that will be signed up to vote by the resurrected ACORN and other tax supported Social Justice NGOs. The government unions will unleash their thugs and money. By the 2012 presidential election, Obama will have hired 200,000 new government workers who normally vote 85 percent for their bosses, the Democrats. Election fraud will be rampant.

The new student loan program will reinvigorate the youth vote and they can freeload off their parents' health care till they are 26. Under age 25 unemployment is 25 percent. They will be motivated again.

Financial reform will pass and scare the 'greedy rich' into submission. Corporations divide their political contributions fairly evenly between the two parties. Mortgage loans in the inner cities are still being given to people that should not qualify.

Immigration reform will pass with the help of some Republicans. 5-7 million more Democrat voters will be created before the 2012 election. Ben Franklin said 240 years ago, I paraphrase, "... Our democratic form of government will succeed until that time when people can vote themselves other people's money." We are there now.

Obama's socialist agenda is popular with the international community and his efforts to make gains with sanctions against Iran will garner temporary world support just before his re-election.

ANY 'nut job' that has some degree of success with an attack on the country will be placed like a yoke around the neck of the conservative movement. If that happens the Democrats will regain control of the U.S. Senate and the House, too.

S.W. Reid is a Coeur d'Alene resident.