Jenn Sykes (you probably remember her from this great sentiment analysis post last year about American Idol), presented Predicting Electoral Outcomes with SAS® Sentiment Analysis and SAS® Forecast Studio at SAS Global Forum 2012. In addition to predicting elections, Sykes tells Anna Brown from Inside SAS Global Forum, that there is a lot of unstructured data in social media that can help forecasters see anamolies that may point to fraud in elections - something difficult to see prior to the election.

She also says this combination of SAS Sentiment Analysis and SAS Forecast Studio could help predict which toys will sell out early at Christmas, who will win an election or which ATMs will run out of cash. Imagine the possibilities!