Each year I make a set of predictions, some tongue in cheek, and every year I prove to only be slightly better than sportswriters predicting the outcomes of NFL games. A quick glance at this year’s scorecard will show I made better predictions than in the past. Comments in italics.
- Governor Doyle will get one or two Assembly Republicans to join his administration. Okay, I blew this one. Maybe now that the budget is over.
- The QEO will be lifted. If there is one trend, I seriously underestimated the resolve of the Assembly Republicans.
- Revenue caps on schools and local governments will be loosened, but not eliminated. And if you have any loose change left, they’ll take that, too.
- Shared revenue will be cut further, except for counties. Depends where you are. However, not enough for me to count this as correct.
- The ethanol mandate will pass. Ethanol less hip and trendy.
- The State Assembly will not pass a conservative budget with tax cuts to challenge the Democrats. How about a tax freeze? Huebsch successfully isolated the State Senate and fought Doyle to a standstill. Nurse Robson sent packing. Not a bad job. Who’da thunk it?
- Charlie Sykes will make up his mind on the Gay Marriage Ban. Charlie? Charlie?
- Republicans will attempt to feed more misinformation to bloggers and get caught and called on it. I’ll have to check Boots and Sabers.
- I will lose weight. I would do the Polar Bear plunge but I’m afraid of being rolled back out to sea.
- Senator Feingold will support a Bush nominee that will get little support from the rest of the Democrats in the US Senate. I guess not. Must be someone else’s turn to be a maverick.
- Senator Kohl will ask a coherent question at a nomination hearing. He will even read it like he wrote it rather than sound like he's just reading what a staffer puts in front of him. Always next year.
- Milk at Senator Kohl's milk barn at the state fair will not go up in price. Lines are longer. What could Feingold give away?
- Senator Feingold will call for the President to either be censured or impeached. Nothing will come of it. Sun rose, sun set.
- Congressman Steve Kagen will again say something completely insulting to a minority group; it will be ignored by the media. No such luck. He just insults our intelligence.
- Taxes will go up. Yup.
- Governor Tommy Thompson will drop out of the race for president. If Huckabee wins the nomination, I’m going to take back anything I ever said bad about Tommy Thompson. Well, not everything.
- WISN's Mark Belling will give credit to a blogger by name - once. What’s a blahg? I think he did a couple of times, more than that if you count Victor Davis Hanson.
- A serious scandal will involve the Doyle Administration, but no link will be found to Doyle directly. It’s been a quiet year in the state contracts department, but Dennis Troha fits the bill.
- Former Waukesha District Attorney Paul Bucher will appear on at least one local Sunday morning talk show. Close, Sunday evening with Jessica McBride.
- The Wigderson Library & Pub will serve free drinks one evening for no reason. Look, if you missed it, it ain’t our fault.
- The New Berlin School Board will remain in the hands of conservatives. I’m still waiting for MacArthur military academy.
- County Executive Dan Vrakas will easily win re-election. Pretty much what you want in a County Executive. Quiet, efficient, low maintenance costs, possible candidate for governor (whoops!)…
- There will be serious violence at a local festival in the city of Milwaukee. I plan on going to Juneteenth Day in 2008 – for breakfast.
- There will be loud demands for Milwaukee Police Chief Nan Haggerty's resignation. Quitter.
- Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett will set records for fundraising for a mayoral race. Compared to his opponents…
- Annette Ziegler will win the race for state supreme court. And the Left has been trying to undo the election ever since.
27. The state legislature will raise the tax on cigarettes with bipartisan support. If only tobacco could be converted to fuel.
