Looking at 2016 Inside Tenn. picks

So, here's some fun insight from Inside Tennessee, our Sunday morning political talk show. At the very end of 2015, the panelists were asked to predict their 2016 winners and losers. Dennis Francis, Billy Star, Mike Cohen, Mike Donila, Susan Williams and Don Bosch participated.

Below are the results. None of us, quite frankly, did all that well. I highlighted the spots were the prediction worked out.

I'll post our 2017 predictions later.

Local Winners

Dennis: Passed

Billy: University of Tennessee football

Cohen: Congressman Duncan and Tim Burchett

Mike D: Republican party (predicted clean Republican sweep in local races)

Susan: Tony Norman

Don: Randy Nichols and Sheriff Jones (predicted getting safety center off the ground)

Local Losers

Dennis: Knox County citizens if we do not open the safety center

Billy: Knox County BOE (based on all the sniping)

Cohen: Didn’t really answer. Talked about Tony Norman and dissatisfaction with past administration

Mike D: Jim McIntyre (based on board’s balance of power shift and the budget-limiting MOU he signed)

Susan: Jim McIntyre (based on Norman’s election)

Don: Jeff Ownby

Quick thoughts: Hard to give Cohen credit for Duncan and Burchett. Tim had little movement and Duncan easily won a race. There were way bigger winners than Duncan in the grand scheme. Also hard to give Dennis credit on his pick for loser. The county failed to open the safety center but citizens weren’t a clear loser.

State Winners

Dennis: Ron Ramsey

Billy: Sen. Randy McNally

Cohen: Randy Boyd

Mike D: Butch Jones (predicted player scandal that Butch would smooth out and 8-4 season and bowl win)

Susan: Randy Boyd

Don: Justice Jeff Bivens (predicted he would be chief justice of Supreme Court, said do all sorts of bad things)

State Losers

Dennis: All of us

Billy: Derrick Schofield, Department of Correction Commissioner

Cohen: Democratic party (state)

Mike D: Rest of the top brass at UT is going to have a bad year (reason I picked Butch)

Susan: Anthony Haynes (lobbyist for UT)

Don: 250,000 people who did not get healthcare (said Gov. won’t get it back or won’t get passed)

Thoughts: I blew the Butch Jones pick but when I made my prediction on how the team would go (8-4) everyone on the panel said they would do much better. Eat crow, people. (The bowl game doesn't count.) Ha. But, I killed it on predicting the rest of the UT brass being losers – see ya later, Cheek! See ya later, Hart! I can’t give credit for the Randy Boyd picks – not after the embarrassment of the Smokies baseball team and the behind the scene secrecy of the Regal deal that wasn’t popular with a lot of the public. Billy nailed it on McNally and Schofield.

National winners:

Dennis: Hillary Clinton

Billy: Hillary Clinton

Cohen: Hillary Clinton

Mike D: Hillary Clinton

Susan: All of you media folks (24-7 news is having a field day)

Don: Whoever Hillary Clinton pics as her vice presidential candidate (“Someone’s about to get a ticket to the big show.”)

National losers:

Dennis: National Republican Party

Billy: National Republican Party

Cohen: Donald Trump (“He won’t be elected president of the United States.”)

Mike D: National Republican Party

Susan: Donald Trump

Don: National Republican Party

Thoughts: We all blew it on the winners. Going to disagree with Susan. It was a tough time for the media with Trump, his crazies and the knuckleheads who change “fake news” for everything they disagree with.” We also all blew it on the losers.

Politician of the Year for 2016

Dennis: Hillary Clinton

Billy: Hillary Clinton

Cohen: Hillary Clinton

Mike D: Hillary Clinton

Susan: Whoever the Republican nominee is

Don: Hillary Clinton

Biggest surprise

Dennis: Nothing comes to mind

Billy: One-in-three chance of a third candidate running for president

Cohen: Whoever wins the 4^th District commission Republican seat

Mike D: One of those commissioners will do something silly and might not be around

Susan: Bring the Lady Vols logo and name back

Don: Jimmy Duncan chooses to retire from Congress

Final thoughts: Dennis was the big winner the previous year when we made his predictions. He didn’t do as well this time around. In fact, he scored a goose egg. Mike D and Susan won with three points.  Don and Billy got two points and Cohen got one. Personally, I think we all sucked. Ha. We blew it on the national picks and politician of the year (except for Susan) and none of possibly surprises rang true.