Archive for March, 2008

It’s Thursday morning, and there still is nothing out there explaining Steve Carter’s mysterious decision to stand aside and not seek a third term as Indiana’s attorney general.

More and more, I tend to favor my suspicion voiced on Monday night, namely that the timing of the departure was designed to give advantage to Carter’s favored replacement, his deputy Greg Zoeller.

Regardless of the absence of information on the reasons behind Carter’s decision, however, there is plenty out there about the race among Republicans to replace him as the GOP nominee in November.

First, of course, comes Secretary of State Todd Rokita, who is apparently definitely interested or at least putting out serious feelers on a possible candidacy. Term-limited in his current job, Rokita (and/or his people) are apparently seriously eyeing a convention bid for the position, probably to an extent that has thus far been underestimated or at least misread downward.

Weighing in against Rokita, however, are movement social conservatives (something about a gay pride parade). Many apparently view the Secretary of State as unpalatable, if not completely unacceptable, and there is already a movement afoot to find someone else. Already, some social conservative leaders are reportedly promising to try to block any candidacy by Rokita or defeat him in a convention floor fight.

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It turns out there was sniper fire when Hillary Clinton landed in Bosnia after all.  She also took a couple shots at a would-be terrorist who was hiding under a tank.

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I love Red State.

Gary Varvel hits the nail on the head again.  Hilarious!  I also thought this was a nice follow up to Brian’s post from Monday.

I Cannot Spare the Man, He Fights - Abraham Lincoln writing about Union General Ulysses S. Grant

Last night I was invited to attend a fundraiser in honor of Congressman Dan Burton. What an event! It was a bloggers dream as the other Republican members of Indiana’s congressional delegation, Mike Pence, Steve Buyer and Mark Souder were present to support the Congressman in his re-election bid. Also present were Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi, who served as one of Burton’s chief legal aids when he Chaired the Committee on Government Reform as well as State Senator Brandt Hershman and many community and civic leaders. Speaking with Congressman Buyer afterwards, he said that this was only the third time since he was first elected in 1992 that the entire Republican delegation had been together. How remarkable it was that is was in honor of man who was constantly referred to as a fighter by all three other Congressmen.

Each member spoke for a few minutes on behalf of the Congressman Burton and one interest comments was made by Congressman Pence who spoke to the thorny issue that has pestered the Burton campaign in regards to his missed votes. He said that someone had approached about the Congressman’s missed votes. His response was that he too had missed votes, whether he just wasn’t able to make it or on accident, but that every time it mattered, Dan Burton was there. He referenced a letter written to President Lincoln by a leader of the Temperance Movement who after it appeared that the Union Forces were going to win the Civil War (convenient time to write don’t you think?) asked that President Lincoln remove General Ulysses S. Grant because of his love for alcohol and smoking. While a letter like that would be automatically dismissed today, President Lincoln did respond.

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Very astute of you fair reader. I too was wondering why Hoosier Access wasn’t loading. The unfortunate thing is, our webmaster is in China. Taking a chance, I emailed him considering that it’s evening over there. I got an immediate response! (Yes, he’s that good!) Turns out some files or what not are being moved around on our server. Here’s what he sent me.

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And the Governor’s folks have another commercial up on the air today.  This one focuses on the Governor’s hard work to bring more jobs to Indiana.

On Monday, Chelsea Clinton declared to a South Bend crowd that it was her first time to visit Indiana and she was expecting to fall in love with the state.  After a question at Butler University on Tuesday I’m wondering how much she loves Indiana crowds.

It seems that a large part of Chelsea’s job in the Clinton campaign is to reach out to younger voters and carry her mom’s message to her generation.  This role necessarily involves going to college campuses across the country. 

On Tuesday Chelsea fielded questions from a Butler U. crowd and at the end of the session she got asked a question that she said she had never been asked.  The question was something like “Do you think the Monica Lewinsky scandal hurt your mom’s credibility?”  Chelsea was caught off-guard and she quickly responded that the issue was none of the questioner’s business.

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It seems yet another campaign aide has jumped ship over at the Schellinger campaign. If it weren’t for bad news, Jim Schellinger wouldn’t have any news at all. You can read about it at Frugal Hoosiers and the Ryerson Rag.

Today our little ole primary, that’s happening in about six weeks, kept up it’s steam in terms of political relevance when we made the front page of the Washington Post (you’ll have to take my word for it). Of course it was talking about Democrat’s primary, between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton rather than our state’s whole primary. Remember when we foolish thought the Republican primary might last till Indiana after Huckabee took Iowa and McCain took New Hampshire and there was talk of a brokered convention even on Red State? Those were the days.

Anyway, the article can be summed up in one sentence from the entire article:

“The state’s Democrats have reacted to their sudden relevance with enthusiasm.”

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Rumors continue to fly about the decision of popular Republican incumbent Attorney General Steve Carter to not seek a third term.Monday came and went, and saw no bombshell scandal headlines in local newspapers explaining Carter’s sudden decision, perhaps undermining speculation on the Internets that Carter was leaving to avoid some sort of imminent news of some juicy scandal or impropriety; none has been forthcoming.

In fact, the entire story has all but been buried by a combination of the holiday news cycle, the Democratic presidential campaign presence at Dyngus Day, and some story in Indianapolis involving the departing of Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh.

To say that Carter’s departure came as a surprise is an understatement. From what sources indicate, many of Carter’s own staff apparently did not know until Sunday afternoon (heck of an Easter present). Murray Clark, the State GOP chairman, was not aware of it during the week and apparently also learned of it on very short notice. The Governor appears to have learned of it in a meeting (or a phone call) with Carter on Saturday.

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The Agenda (not the “uhgender”) is posted HERE (Adobe Reader required). Meeting starts at 7 PM.

6:53 PM - The crowd is assembling in the Public Assembly Room. Several veterans including Warren Township’s own Pony Tail Paul Cauley.

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Earlier today I gave some helpful exposure to Barack Obama so now I’ll close out this day by giving Senator Clinton some attention. 

The below video was linked to on the Drudge Report and it tends to hurt Sen. Clinton’s claim that she came under fire on her trip to Bosnia during her husband’s presidency.

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