Just a month before the tragic attacks of September 11, we wrote in this space about a gigantic question mark hanging over the 2002 mid-term election. We said that "large, contradictory forces are at work, with each party having legitimate arguments for gains, but it's impossible to say at this point which side is right and which wrong." Today, there is still a lot of uncertainty swirling around the outcome of the 2002 election, but recent empirical evidence in polling as well as historical patterns can give us some idea of where we are headed just 11 months from next year's election.

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