I’ll ask for predictions from the Indiana Week in Review panel on tonight’s show.  Here are mine in advance:

Political Story of the Year for 2009: 

Government Reform.  I say Mitch Daniels will succeed in his efforts to consolidate government to the degree that he can claim victory.

Surprise of the Year: 

Its unfair of me to pose this one but, since I did, here goes:  Republicans and Democrats in the General Assembly will cooperate for the second year in a row.

Politician to watch in 2009:

Congressman Mike Pence.  His new position as GOP Conference Chair will make or break his ambition for higher office.

The local newspaper this weekend pointed out accurately that outgoing Alaska Senator Ted Stevens is a native of Indianapolis and so is incoming Senator Mark Warner of Virginia. 

The reporting, however, suggested that with Indiana natives Evan Bayh and Richard Lugar, that gives Indiana three natives in the Senate, both before and after the new Congress takes office.

That is an incorrect answer to the favorite trivia question of Indiana Week in Review panelist Jon Schwantes.  The correct answer is four.  Indianapolis native Maria Cantwell represents the state of Washington.

The significant change will be in the number of Shortridge High School graduates in the Senate.  With the departure of Stevens, Lugar will be the only one.

Today’s taping of Indiana Week in Review produced a first, an on air apology.

During a discussion of the governor’s race Republican Luke Messer said that under Mitch Daniels property taxes went down.  “Not on my house!” said Democrat Ann DeLaney.  That led Messer to refer to her “fancy” house.

DeLaney later found an opening to mention Messer’s partner status at the big law firm IceMiller (neither Messer nor DeLaney used the term elitist, by the way.)

Messer immediately took back the fancy house comment in a move unlike any I remember in 17 years of broadcasts.

Because racing is such a big part of Hoosier culture, we always do predictions on Indiana Week in Review prior to the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400.

Maybe you noticed that I picked eventual winner Jimmie Johnson on Friday while everyone else on the panel picked Jeff Gordon.   I just thought I would make note of that.

Democratic candidates for the state legislature now join their candidate for governor, Jill Long Thompson, in her call for a suspension of the state sales tax on gasoline but, so far, the message is not on TV.  Without TV ads to drive the point home, the calls for action won’t accomplish much.

Which gets us to tomorrow and the reporting deadline for fundraising in the governor’s race.  Jill Long Thompson needs to make a good showing so that she can attract even more money and, therefore, get her message on TV.

Yet Friday on Indiana Week in Review Democratic Chairman Dan Parker did his best to reduce expectations.  He said that any sum over a million dollars would show success for Long Thompson.  You may recall that a previous IWIR discussion put the credibility level at 1.5-to-2 million.

Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

This is a reporting deadline (midnight tonight) for statewide political candidates and Jill Long Thompson needs to reach a significant fundraising milestone to impress both voters and donors.

Her campaign manager, Travis Lowe, sent an e-mail to supporters today begging for contributions that total $4,755 before midnight.  That amount, no doubt, would give the campaign a big round number to show off, but how big?

On Indiana Week in Review Friday I suggested that $2 million is the required number but John Ketzenberger expressed the belief that she can accomplish her goals at a lower figure (say $1.5 million?).

Regardless, while the folks at Frugal Hoosiers suggest that the Long Thompson campaign is barely able to keep the lights on, a significant contribution arrived Friday from the labor union known as SEIU.  It gave the Democratic candidate two contributions totaling $500,000.

Ed DeLaney has long been a behind the scenes guy in Indiana politics, both as an organizer and as an election law attorney (and, of course, husband to Ann DeLaney of Indiana Week in Review fame.)  Now he wants to be on the other side of things.  DeLaney plans to step out today as a candidate for slating in Indiana House District 86.

There’s a vacancy in 86 because Democrat state Rep. David Orentlicher filed this week to be a candidate in the May primary in the 7th Congressional District.  86 just happens to be ground zero in the property tax debate.