Jimmy the P has asked a couple of the regular contributors at the Well to participate in the Midland Reporter Telegram's election night coverage, including yours truly.

That's right, a respectable news organization has asked me to be a real life Political Pundit. I sense a train-wreck, but isn't that what sells papers and drives eye-balls to websites?

I'm not sure about the status of the other contributors, but I have accepted Jimmy's offer and will provide my amateur analysis of this election.

The first thing most pundits do is make predictions, so here it goes:

State/Local Races and Issues:

Craddick vs. Dingus: Craddick 65%, Dingus 35%. Craddick will win easily, but unless he surprises me and relegates Dingus to less than 25% of the vote count, he should expect aggressive challengers for as long as he wants to serve in the Texas House.

Jail Bond Issue: For: 55%, Against 45%. A bond election with almost no local media/coffee shop heat generally passes. The dollar figure is low and Midland County has shown a propensity to move forward with projects in this funding range without voter approval, I guess we should be lucky it went to the ballot box.

Conaway vs. Strohm: Conaway in a blow-out 90%+, but it will be interesting to see the percentage of non-voters in this race. Anything over 25% blank ballots in this race could signal a challenger to rise up. Though, it won't matter in the long run, redistricting is coming up very quickly and Conaway, and Midland/Odessa, could suffer at the hands of the redistricting committee, especially if Craddick is out of the Speakership.

Williams vs Two Other Opponents: Williams by a large margin, but not a blow out because of straight party voting. As a well liked elected official with lots of potential, I'm just curious how many more terms Williams will serve at the RRC before he jumps to a bigger office? Energy Secretary in a McCain White house?

My precincts for County Commissioner and School Board aren't on the ballot this year, so I really don't have an opinion on these races, because I haven't followed them.

National Races:

Cornyn vs. Noriega and a Libertarian: Cornyn 62%, Noriega 32%. Cornyn hasn't done anything to upset the electorate, but he's going to suffer with a lot of straight party voting in the metro areas, so Noriega gets a boost.

McCain/Palin vs. Obama/Biden: Split decision with at least Four State Supreme Courts or Secretary's of State making significant rulings (Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Missouri). Obama will win the popular vote because California is excited about his candidacy and they will turn out in big numbers, and Obama has made gains in the Texas Metro areas. However, McCain will win the electoral vote, in no small part to Obama's Joe the Plumber and Bankrupting the Coal Companies remarks. Ayers and Wright fire up the base, but taxes and jobs motivate the masses. Look for something akin to 2000, but realistically, this will be over by Friday.

Democratic Control of House and Senate: The Democratic majorities will get larger, but they will fail to get a cloture proof 60 in the senate by 3 seats, and they will fail to get a veto proof house. That really doesn't matter because there are still enough RINO's in each chamber to allow lots of bad legislation to get through.

Let the comments commence!