It’s too early to predict 2012

We’re about to start — if we haven’t already started — the long slog toward congressional elections in 2012. In a video making the rounds from the National Journal, analyst Charlie Cook suggests we shouldn’t expect any real change in the makeup of Congress:

Did someone say “Wayback Machine?”

Here’s Congressional Quarterly’s assessments on the 2010 congressional elections, which was published almost as far ahead of the actual election as Cook’s:

With 257 of the 435 U.S. House seats, Democrats are strongly favored to retain their majority in the 2010 elections — though history points to party losses in the first midterm election of President Obama. Most of the 435 congressional districts have such well-entrenched incumbents that the 2010 House races there will be landslides.