We've already weighed in on what president-Elect Obama's selection of Arne Duncan as the next U.S. Secretary of Education may mean for education policy. But it has another meaning to those of us at Flypaper: the end of our pick-the-next-education-secretary daily tracking poll. Yes, I think I'm going to cry.
Our six-week-long experiment proved successful, as Arne Duncan led his competitors from the very first day and never looked back. (Though, to be fair, it was quite a contest the first week, when Jim Hunt and Colin Powell were still in the running. But once they took themselves out of contention, Duncan dunked the rest of the field.)
So which of our Washington Insiders got it right from the very start? It sure wasn't me; I didn't get on board until a few weeks ago, when my first two picks (Hunt and Bill Richardson) decided they had other plans. Nope, the insider's insider was Bethany Little, Vice President for Policy and Federal Advocacy at the Alliance for Excellent Education. Way back on November 10th??she gave Duncan a 70 percent chance of becoming secretary, and she never lost faith. Nice work, Bethany!
Other insiders deserve credit too, as Duncan was also mentioned on Day One by Nina Rees (who gave him a 30 percent chance), Michele McLaughlin (25), Dave DeSchryver (20), Fritz Edelstein (15) and Brooks Garber (10).
I'd like to thank all of our insiders for their participation--and their patience.
As for what's next...anyone wanna predict who the deputy secretary of education will be? (Just kidding)
