First, click here and fill out this year’s 21-question survey. Then scroll down to see my picks.

Twelve months from now, you may hold me to only those among the following predictions that turned out to be accurate. They will come to underscore — as my declaration two weeks ago that state Sen. James Meeks was destined to drop out of the Chicago mayor’s race now underscores — a prescience on my part that borders on the eerie.

Hey, if selective recall is good enough for tabloid psychics, it’s good enough for me.

A run-off election will not be necessary because Rahm Emanuel will win the mayor’s race outright on Feb. 22.

I see increasing numbers of coldly pragmatic business and civic leaders climbing on early to grab good seats on the Mayor Emanuel bus as long as a single, strong challenger to him fails to emerge.

Second place in the mayor’s race will go to Gery Chico

The anybody-but-Rahm vote will coalesce, eventually, somewhat. Process of elimination suggests it will favor Chico, a good fundraiser whose campaign seems disciplined and focused. Yet certain broadcasters will continue to mispronounce his first name as “Jerry.”

 Rod Blagojevich will take a plea bargain prior to his second trial in April.

Federal prosecutors fell one quirky vote short of convicting the former governor last summer on a raft of serious charges charges including racketeering and conspiracy, and ended up with a hung jury on all but one of the 24 counts. In round two ,scheduled for April, they will present a sharpened, streamlined case ,and the financially strapped Blagojevich will be represented by a smaller, lower caliber defense team.

He’s sworn that he won’t ever plead guilty, but he swore before and during his last trial that he’d take the witness stand, and he backed out of that. So though he may be nuts, we know he’s not crazy.

Former Bolingbrook police sergeant Drew Peterson will be found guilty of murdering his third wife, Kathleen Savio.

The Illinois General Assembly will approve an increase in the state income tax.

No one’s going to be happy with the raft of tax and fee hikes and program cuts that must come out of Springfield if we’re to start reducing our massive debts and getting the state’s budget under control. .

The Illinois General Assembly will not approve a casino for Chicago

The Cook County sales-tax rate will remain unchanged

Harsh budget realities will force new Cook County Board President Toni Preckwickle to defer her campaign promise to lower the unpopular tax.

Former Cub Mark Grace will replace the late Ron Santo alongside Pat Hughes on Cubs radio broadcasts.

He’s a fan favorite — the runaway winner of a Tribune Internet survey on who should replace Santo — and that will tip the balance in his favor.

President Obama’s average favorable rating will be under 50 percent a year from now.

He’s close right now– 49.7 percent in the most recent survey of polling data by Pollster.com — but a sluggish economic recovery (unemployment will remain over 8 percent) will depress his popularity. However…

Approval of the the health-care reform law — “Obamacare” — will inch above 50 percent.

It’s now at 42.3 percent. But Republican threats to repeal the law will be revealed as empty, court challenges to the insurance mandate will fail and we’ll at last see the growing acceptance I predicted nine months ago.

Last August’s ruling by California U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker that same-sex couples have a Constitutional right to marry will survive appellate challenges.

President Obama will “evolve” away from his finger-to-the-wing opposition to gay marriage.

Neither Sarah Palin nor Newt Gingrich will run for the Republican presidential nomination.

In the end, both will realize that they’ll make more money and have more influence as lightly scrutinized pundits than they will as highly scrutinized failed presidential candidates.

A year from now, I expect Mitt Romney, Mitch Daniels, Mike Huckabee, Tim Pawlenty and avowed non-candidate Chris Christie to be the top contenders in the Iowa presidential caucuses.

We’ll know soon enough. Feb. 10, 2011 will mark the point in the last presidential election cycle that Barack Obama announced his candidacy in a speech in front of the Old State Capitol in Springfield; His chief rival, Hillary Clinton, had announced on her Web site on January 20 that she was “in to win.”

On February 28 of that year, ultimate Republican nominee John McCain unequivocally assured CBS talk-show host David Letterman   that he was running (his delayed his formal announcement until late April). Mitt Romney had formally declared 15 days earlier. President Obama will not be facing a serious challenge for renomination in the Democratic primaries.

The owners of Chicago-based Groupon  will come to regret not taking Google, Inc.’s reported $5 billion-plus buyout offer.

Hard to quantify “regret,” of course, but Groupon’s deal-of-the-day business model appears easily replicable and therefore vulnerable to competition.

Chicago’s new mayor will replace Police Supt. Jody Weis.

The Bears will lose their first game in the NFL playoffs.

No one has been able to predict this quirky team all season and I hope this turns out to be one more example.

The White Sox will win more games than the Cubs, but neither team will go to the World Series. The Blackhawks won’t repeat as Stanley Cup champions and the Bulls will lose in the second round of the NBA playoffs. The major coaches/managers in town will keep their jobs.

All inaccurate predictions shall have been for entertainment purposes only