Pundit of the Year

Handicapping the CHTC race and your other commentary

I've had to remove several comments on the endorsements thread as they were not in fact endorsements. But I'm certainly interested in what y'all have to say, even the snarky stuff.

The Chapel Hill Town Council race is an interesting contest this year with two incumbents and four strong challengers running for only four seats. In the past we had a "Pundit of the Year" contest to see who could best predict the results. We'll be a little less formal this year and just throw our educated guesses out there.

For example, I think Sally Greene will come in strong and that Ed Harrison will continue to hold on to his Council seat. I think George Cianciolo will have broad support, and I see a tight race between Maria Palmer and Amy Ryan for the last spot. I'm not sure which one of those will win, it may depend on who campaigns harder, and I don't have a sense of which that would be.

Let us know who you think SHOULD win in the endorsement thread, and who you think WILL (or won't) win right here.

What the pundits think

Here are the rough results of our Pundit of the Year contest. Please take them with a MASSIVE grain of salt.

In 24 hours we'll kick off live blogging of election results and share the collective wisdom of OP's Pundits. Join us!

2011 Pundit Survey

Play now!

Zazzle model OK, political nerds and peanut gallery, it's time for our annual election contest. You have one week to tell us who you think will win the 2011 elections (not who you want to win).

The survey will close the same time as the real polls - 7:30pm on November 8th. The winner gets a free OP t-shirt or hat in the size and color of your choosing (by way of a gift certificate to the online OP store).

The pundit survey was having technical difficulties and I've had to take it down while I troubleshoot. Apologies!

OP's annual election prediction contest is coming up soon so dust off your thinking caps, y'all!

How did we do?

OK, first the election results. Congratulations Barry, Earl, Lindy, Debbia, Donna, Brenda, and Anne! Then, the Pundits of the Year! (I know you can't wait, right?)

These are final UNOFFICIAL results from the NC Board of Elections awesome web site (click the "map" links to see results by precinct)...

Who's the biggest political geek in the county?

Play now!

OK, the election is a few days away. This has not been the most exciting election season, but sometimes the smallest stakes can inspire the strongest emotions. It's time for our annual Pundit of the Year contest.

Submissions are open until 7:30 pm on Tuesday (when the real polls also close). Results will be announced by the weekend. The winner gets a free OP t-shirt or hat in the size and color of your choosing (by way of a gift certificate to the online OP store).

The wisdom of crowds

I was a little worried that the polling in Chapel Hill would screw up the annual Pundit of the Year contest, but since PPP Polls had Penny in 6th and she actually came in 1st, I think we can safely say that pundits had to rely on their own intuition. No-one (not even Penny) predicted Penny would come first in Chapel Hill so no contestants won on the order.

The following people did predict the winners correctly in all of the races though, and most of them put their entries in before Tom Jensen announced the PPP figures anyway: Jason Baker, Penny Rich, Mark Chilton, Erin Crouse, and Greg Bell! Each of them will get a gift certificate for OP's Zazzle print-on-demand store.

In averaged results, the contestants as a whole picked the winners in every race except for School Board. However, we got the order wrong on the Chapel Hill Town Council and Carrboro Board of Aldermen due to the success of challengers Penny Rich and Sammy Slade. Read on for aggregated predictions...