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Allan Lichtman is a name you may not have heard of. He is a highly respected American University Professor who was Harvard trained in history and quantitative methods. He has used that training to create something called the "The Keys To The White House" which is sometimes referred to as the "13 keys."
Simply put, it is a prediction system used to rate 13 specific markers to predict the outcome of the American presidential elections. Some of the keys are qualitative, some are quantitative, but the key (no pun intended) is that the incumbent must have at least 8 or more marked as "true" to win re-election. Since it's creation in 1981, the system has accurately predicted the winner every single time - except 2000 (they predicted Gore would win, which is did - the popular vote).
The 13 keys are as follows: