The day is finally here! Be sure to exercise your right and go vote!
To find a polling place or for more primary election information, visit the Indiana Secretary of State’s page here: http://www.in.gov/sos/
It’s just sad it took the death of these two innocent children to potentally bring about legislation which increases the penalties for their murders.
The man who shot a pregnant teller during a bank robbery last week could face as little as two years in prison for killing her unborn twins.
But a penalty stretching several decades to 100 years would apply for the robbery and the attempted murder of the mother — an absurd gap, Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said. Today, he is expected to announce a proposal that would expand Indiana’s fetal homicide laws to include any unborn child.
The change would remove a condition that the fetus be viable, or have the ability to live outside the mother’s womb.
“I don’t see why we should be talking about viability,” Brizzi said Tuesday. “If somebody takes the life of an unborn child, they should be charged with murder, period.”
(Read more after leap)
Just released from SurveyUSA:
3 Weeks to Indiana Democratic Gubernatorial Primary, Long Thompson Has Momentum: In a Democratic Primary for Governor of Indiana today, 04/14/08, 3 weeks till votes are counted, Jill Long Thompson pulls ahead of Jim Schellinger and leads now by 8 points, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for WHAS-TV Louisville KY and WCPO-TV Cincinnati OH. Today, it’s Long Thompson 46%, Schellinger 38%. Compared to an identical SurveyUSA poll released two weeks ago, Long Thompson is up 7, Schellinger is down 3. Long Thompson, who represented Indiana’s 4th Congressional District from 1988 through 1994, has made inroads among men, where Indianapolis architect Schellinger had led by 21, now leads by 5. Among women, Long Thompson had led by 13, now leads by 20. In greater Indianapolis, Schellinger had led by 9, now leads by 3. In Southern Indiana, Schellinger had led by 22, now is tied. Among white voters, Schellinger had led by 3, now trails by 5. The winner of the primary will face incumbent Republican Governor Mitch Daniels. 16% of likely voters are undecided. The outcome is anything but certain.
Source: SurveyUSA
WISH-TV released a poll showing that Hillary Clinton has a 49-46 lead. I guess this means we’ll be seeing a lot more of both candidates in the coming weeks. Anyone surprised that things are this close in Indiana?
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – The WISH-TV Indiana Poll shows Hillary Clinton with a slight lead in the battle to win the Indiana May primary. At the same time, Barack Obama runs strong among Democrats in Central Indiana.
Hillary Clinton’s all-out effort in Indiana is explained in the WISH-TV Indiana poll. Her lead is just three points, 49-to-46, inside the margin of error (See the full poll results in the left margin of this story).
“It underlines just how much of a pivotal role the people of Indiana are gonna play in the election this year in selecting the next President of the United States,” said Kevin Griffis of the Obama campaign.
In the Indianapolis metro area Obama holds a big lead, 57-to-38, and it’s clear that the two candidates appeal to different segments of the Democratic Party.
Clinton wins support from 55 percent of the women and 60 percent of the older voters. With just one Indiana campaign stop so far, Obama has backing from 81 percent of the black voters and 63 percent of voters 29 and under.
Poll PDF: Source
Well, since things have been very busy in each of our lives, I thought I would post a summary of some of the interesting news articles/blog posts I ran across today.
Scott had a good post a few days ago on the Democrats property tax plan.
Where will Mitch Daniels be tomorrow? Click to find out. (Want a clue: It’s not at the Statehouse)
Congratulations goes to Todd and Kathy Rokita on the birth of their first child, Theodore James Rokita.
All sorts of interesting data in the new Howey-Gauge Poll. I’m sure more analysis will follow.
For an update on the immigration bill, once dead, now alive- visit the IndyStar.
IndyStar also has an article on Andre Carson and his faith.
For those of you who live in Johnson County here are the notable primary races:
Mitch Ripley, completing his first term as District 3 commissioner, will square off against current County Councilman John Price in what could be the county’s most highly-contested race. Pete Sims also is on the ballot.
In the District 1 race, Gary Young will challenge Troy DeHart, who took over the seat last year when R.J. McConnell resigned.
Six County Council candidates — including two incumbents — will vie for three at-large seats. Incumbents Josh McCarty and Ron West will battle Forrest Chambers, Thomas Carroll, Kenneth Marshall and Brian Walker.
One high-profile Republican officeholder is seeking a change of scenery. Johnson County Prosecutor Lance Hamner has filed for Superior Court 3 judge.
A state senate race is sure to attract the attention of Johnson County voters. Brent Waltz will battle Mike Beeles for the Senate District 36 Republican nomination.
Beeles has filed a challenge with the Indiana Election Commission stating that Waltz does not live in a Greenwood condominium listed as Waltz’s official residence. Waltz was granted a protective order against Beeles last week after accusing Beeles of stalking him.
Source: IndyStar
Any notable races in your part of the state?
Money is apparently not everything when it comes to politics. While it ususally helps, nothing beats passionate voters. I wonder if there is something that future candidates can learn from stories like this:
Mayor Greg Ballard was outspent 11-1 in his stunning upset victory over former Mayor Bart Peterson, according to campaign finance reports released today.
Ballard reported spending $375,000 last year on his campaign for the mayor’s office. Peterson reported spending nearly $4.2 million in an unsuccessful attempt to win a third term.
Ballard won the Nov. 6 election by more than 5,000 votes despite having no previous experience in elected office.
The spending discrepency was nearly as pronounced in the last three weeks before the election. Ballard reported spending $201,000 during that period, compared to $1.7 million by Peterson’s campaign.
Source: Indystar
The following was posted by Beth Murphy on the Indianapolis Star’s Expresso Blog. It’s an interesting concept, but at the same time it is tragic that we have find alternative ways to compel parents to become involved in their children’s lives and their education.
We receive plenty of letters blaming the lack of parental involvement for failing students and schools.
But how do you get parents to become involved? IPS’ School 57 is going to make them sign a contract. It will become the first “fundamental” school in IPS. Fundamental schools, according to the IPS Web site, are showing “impressive results” in other cities, such as Cleveland and Louisville.
Family-oriented schools sound like a good start toward raising expections and sharing responsibility among teachers, students and parents. However, they could become self-fulfilling prophecies, because parents must choose whether to sign a contract promising to do things such as attend monthly conferences and PTO meetings or volunteer in the school. If parents don’t sign a contract by March 3, their children will be assigned to Christian Park School 82.
If you want to know more, there’s a meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday night (Jan. 17) at the Irvington United Methodist Church on the Audubon Circle, just north of Washington Street on the Eastside.
Source: Expresso
In case some of you are interested in following today’s democratic caucus to slate a candidate for the IN-7 seat:
Abdul will be live blogging the event here: Indiana Barrister
