Become A Pundit, Win A Prize

People always ask me: How can I become a political pundit?

The short answer is, you must be accepted into membership in the American Pundits Guild.

This is a select group, created by the National Newspaper Columnists Act of 1934, that dispenses about 90 percent of this nation's punditry. It used to be 100%, but some of it has been off-shored to India in recent years.

The APG is headquartered – where else? -- in Washington, D.C. The current head is E. J. Dionne. His official title is Most High Priest, but we won't get into that now.

Because this is the Blog That Cares ©, I am going to offer you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become a certified political pundit -- and win a wonderful prize!

I hereby declare the First Annual Regional Pundits Contest.

The winner will get an official APG certificate, suitable for framing, declaring him or her a Political Pundit, First Class.

You will also win a $25 gift card to Borders, which will come from my very own Pundit's Expense Account (which I will list as "Lunch with Source.")

In order to win, here is what you must do:

1. Correctly predict the winner of Pennsylvania's May 16th Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate by his percentage of votes, plus the percentage of votes tallied by his two rivals. (For the record, the candidates are Bob Casey Jr., Alan Sandals and Chuck Pennacchio.)

2. As a tiebreaker, you must also predict the exact number of votes, rounded to the nearest hundred, that will be cast statewide in the race for U.S. Senate in the Democratic primary. (For the record, there are 3.8 million registered Democrats in Pennsylvania.)

Sample Entry:

Tom: I want to be a pundit! Here is my prediction for the Democratic primary results:

Bob Casey Jr. – winner – 74% of the vote
Alan Sandals – 15%
Chuck Pennacchio – 11%
Total votes cast: 768,300

The deadline is 11:59 p.m., Monday, May 15th. Include your name and address.
Do not submit your entry via a posting.

Send it to my email address: tferrick@phillynews.com

The winner will be announced in this space at noon, Wednesday, May 17th. The vote total will be based upon the latest Associated Press count as of 11 a.m. that day.

Don't miss this opportunity to become a pundit. Email your entry today!