Oh What a Night!

Republican or Democrat, last night was an exciting time to be a politico in Indiana! “Chaos” was out in force yesterday with many Republican voters crossing over to vote in the Democrat primary. Turnout was extraordinarily high all across the state, but Republican ballots cast were way low, especially in typically red counties.

What was more interesting to watch last night wasn’t so much how the presidential race shook down between Hillary and Obama, but how Operation Chaos played it’s role in down ballot races. Incumbents and challengers alike will all claim Chaos hurt them the most. The thing is, they’re right. Everybody is going to have their particular spin. In the 5th CD, Congressman Dan Burton emerged victorious yet again (no surprise there), but with his lowest re-elect numbers ever. A good portion of his supporters are Rush Limbaugh listening conservatives who probably took Rush’s advice to switch over and cause havoc with the Democrats primary. With the intertwining history that Limbaugh and Burton have had with the Clinton’s over the years, for conservatives to cross over and pull the lever for a Clinton seems a bit absurd. But when couched with the idea that a vote for Hillary only prolongs the agony of Democrats, all of the sudden, it becomes quite a palatable choice.

(Read more after the leap)

On the other side of that race, the Indy Star’s Matt Tully continues to be a wonderful master of spin/press secretary for the now defunct McGoff campaign also sighting Operation Chaos as a reason McGoff lost!

U.S. Rep. Dan Burton, R-18th Green, defeated challenger John McGoff. Burton ran a nasty campaign against McGoff and benefited from the intense interest in the Democratic nomination, which attracted independents and moderate Republicans who might have otherwise voted against him in the GOP primary.

Note to Mr. Tully, maybe you forgot, or maybe it’s because of your blind hatred for Congressman Burton, but McGoff made this a nasty campaign long before the Congressman was forced to defend himself against lies and misrepresentation of facts. But in reality, Tully has a point, despite the vitriol he spews forth in delivering it.

But there is life outside the 5th.

In the Democrats race for Governor, Jill Long Thompson had to wait till this morning to find out she came out by the hair of her nose in victory. I will give her props for sticking it to the party. That was fantastic! But what role did Chaos play in that race? It’s too early to tell really. Most Chaos voters went in, voted in one race and left. That means that the rest of the ticket played out the way the Democrat voters wanted it to. Heading into Tuesday, even with JLT widening her lead against “Jimmy Paycheck”, the race was too close to call. The name ID for both of these candidates was horribly low, but it appears, with JLT’s connections up north, she was able to emerge victorious, though with results being separated by less than a percentage point, there is sure to be a challenge. But until that happens, Jim is gone!

Stay tuned through out the day as I’m sure more breakdown will emerge as we learn more about the races around the state.