*UPDATE* – Jim Shella from WISH TV has confirmed that Sen. Gard has indeed pulled her endorsement.

Looks like McVey is falling behind.

…

So this 5th Congresssional District Race is going to be a barn burner. With five candidates in the race, each of them is fighting for votes and endorsements early and often. Each of the challengers brag about the money they have raised and who is supporting them.

In a Primary, challengers usually try to line up elected officials to help build the challenger’s creditability within the Party. After all, if this elected Republican supports the challenger, obviously there is something wrong with the current office holder.

Make sense?

Luke Messer announced back at the end of October he had 500 key endorsements. Mike Murphy has former Lt Gov. John Mutz supporting him. Brose McVey has the support of Sen. Beverly Gard and State Rep. Nick Gulling, among others.

Or does he?

Credible word has gotten back to this blogger that Sen. Bev Gard has withdrawn her support from McVey in his campaign for Congress. When one person talks about it, you can dismiss it. But when several people start to ask about it, one has to wonder.

I have contacted the McVey camp to get some sort of confirmation or denial. To date, I have heard nothing back.

Anyone else heard anything about this?

This past week 5^th Congressional District hopeful Luke Messer held a press conference with only (16) sixteen people and two children present and announced he had hundreds and hundreds of supporters. Now I looked down the list and it is full of insiders, former State Party employees, former Mitch for Governor Campaign staffers, a few state legislators and a number of others.

Let’s take a look at Luke Messer, he was once the Executive Director of the State of Indiana Republican Party, a former Legislator turned lobbyist and a former partner at the law firm Ice Miller. Most of his supporters are people who used to work for him and with him at Ice Miller and the Indiana State Republican Party. This is full of insiders and most of them don’t even live in the 5^th Congressional District and want a voice in this race?

After Luke’s press release this past week Brose McVey went on the attack for this “insider” and buddy buddy system” and he asked the voters if they have “Had enough”? He states this from his recent press release:

“Now, I don’t have any trouble on the personal level with these guys or their backers.  I know them, like them, respect their service. But, if you are like me, you’ve had enough of the insider baseball, the money politics and the buddy-buddy system!

I have to agree with him on this, I’m not saying that Luke Messer is a bad person, I believe in his family values and his willingness to serve his country, but when you leave office to become a lobbyist at a huge Indianapolis Law firm and want to come back into office and have your buddies back you….that concerns voters and I personally think they are tired of it.

(Read more after the leap)

2004 and 2008, it was hard to go places within the state where you didn’t see Mitch Daniels’ RV1. Great colors and its visibility made it something people looked for.

And since then, other candidates have started copying the idea.

Take Brose McVey for example.

The 5th Congressional District candidate, trying to unseat Burton, has rolled out his RV in hopes to raise his name id and visibility around the district.

McVey told Jim Shella that he thinks the RV will help give him visibility the other candidates don’t have.

“And what this is is not only a way to symbolize our commitment to be out in these communities, but it’s a way to get there and be there and stay there and spend a lot of time there,” said McVey.

He bought a used RV three weeks ago and said he has already put 2,000 miles on it. Now, was that from driving it back and forth for repairs and/or getting a paint job?

(Read more after the leap)

Most of the action in terms of the 2010 Congressional elections in Indiana is happening in the safest seat of all, the hyper-Republican 5th District. Up in the 5th, Republicans have already raised almost half a million dollars to fight over whether Dan Burton will keep his Congressional seat (and, if he doesn’t, who will get it).

The initial reporting on the district has focused on Luke Messer’s haul of around two hundred thousand dollars. I would say that the bigger story is not how much money Messer raised, but how much money the other candidates raised. Namely, enough to keep themselves in the race. Virtually all of the candidates raised enough money to ensure that they will remain around; the field will not be narrowing any time soon.

In the sense that a divided field will never knock-off the incumbent (which is such conventional wisdom that Messer’s allies have been trying to devise a scheme to pick a lone challenger), this is good news for Dan Burton.

“Winners” are in italics, after the leap.

Last night, Indy Star Columnist Matt Tully addressed the Hancock  County Young Republicans group.  He received (in my humble opinion) an unfortunate chilly reception, but he did throw out one line I thought was pretty funny.  In a room that included two 5th CD primary challengers in Luke Messer and Brose McVey to incumbent (and regular Tully punching bag) Dan Burton, Tully jokingly asked the group, “Is there anyone here not running for the 5th District?”  He followed up those comments by mentioning that the man who lost to Burton last year, John McGoff, would be formally announcing this morning he was running again.

And so it was…(Via the Indy Star)

Dr. John McGoff, who came close to beating U.S. Rep. Dan Burton in the 2008 primary election, will make a second try at unseating the long-time Republican incumbent.

McGoff, an Indianapolis physician and former Marion County coroner, announced his candidacy this morning. Unlike two years, ago, though, he’s got plenty of competition.

At least two other Republicans also are challenging Burton — Brose McVey of Carmel, who ran against Democrat Julia Carson for Congress in 2002, and Luke Messer of Shelbyville, a former state representative and former executive director of the Indiana Republican Party. In addition, State Rep. Mike Murphy of Indianapolis has said he will enter the race.

That is a pretty deep and well qualified field, but let’s be honest. The more people jump into the race, the better the chances are that Burton wins another term. Especially if the contenders come from the areas where Burton in not exactly well liked.  And right now, that’s where all the contenders are coming from.  That’s not to say this race won’t be interesting.  It will be. It will also be very very brutal.  Make no mistake, the 5th CD race will show just how deep the divide in the party really is as state establishment Republicans take on a Congressman not well like by the State Party.  Think I’m joking, just read Frugal Hoosiers.  The guys at FH and us get along on most issues, but with the 5th CD race, they practically fall over themselves at the prospect of anyone with a pulse running against the Dean of the Indiana Congressional Delegation.  So it should be no surprise they were quick to support John McGoff last year and no doubt will be trumpeting Luke Messer, with his direct ties to the State Party as the former Executive Director, as their candidate of choice should the field narrow.

But for political junkies with little to no ties to the 5th CD race, it will be one heck of a fight.  Let’s just hope there aren’t many political casualties of this congressional war.

So, the RNC is unexpectedly outpacing the DNC in fundraising so far.  Who else is outpacing his opponents?

Via the Indy Star:

Burton, who faced his first serious primary challenger last year, is preparing for another battle by stepping up his fundraising efforts, according to first-quarter campaign finance reports.

Burton took in $100,904, the most he has collected in a similar time period for the past three election cycles.

State Rep. Mike Murphy, Indianapolis, who has not officially announced a challenge to Burton, raised $41,000. Carmel resident Brose McVey, who announced his candidacy last month, raised $21,666.

Marion Country Prosecutor Carl Brizzi, who has said he would run only if Burton decides not to, raised $24,698.

John McGoff wasn’t mentioned because the Star is saying he “hasn’t decided” whether he’s running again. This despite what he and a few other McGoff supporters told me and the Lincoln Day dinners he’s showed up to to actually campaign. It also doesn’t mention Luke Messer because he only announced a few weeks ago he was running.

A few things do jump out in those numbers.  First, that’s the best first quarter that the Congressman has had in a long time.  This despite having four other challengers rather than one and more than doubling the amount raised by the next closest challenger.  Second, how surprisingly well State Rep. Mike Murphy did in the first quarter outpacing by almost double the only “official” challenger, Brose McVey, at the time of the reporting.  That said, Murphy has always been known as a good fundraiser.  Third, how well Carl Brizzi did despite declaring he’s not going to challenge Dan Burton.  I’m sure that could be read a number of ways.  But he too outpaced McVey.

Yeah, I know it’s 2009 and nothing should really be going on election wise, but as we’re beginning to see more and more, there is no off season when it comes to elections, especially when the incumbant is Dan Burton.

We live in the internet age and candidates are using it to their advantage.  Heck, they’re using it to formally (?) announce they’re running for congress.  Think I’m kidding?

How is this an announcement you ask?  Well you may recall that McVey announced that he was considering a run via his website brosemcvey.com.  Oddly, it hasn’t been updated to reflect this new information as it gives his traditional welcome message and that he’s formed an exploratory committee.

But there you go.  Then again, are you surprised?  I called that Brose was running back when his site went live back in January:

My question is, why put up a website if you’re giving Congressman Burton time to decide if he’s going to run again, when he clearly has stated many times over since 2008’s primary he’s ready to run again? The answer is, McVey has already determined he’s going to run regardless of what “decision” Congressman Burton makes.

But, as a “new media guy” I do applaud McVey’s use of the internet to promote his candidacy.

Life in the 5th District….always interesting.

Brian Jessen at Indiana’s Conservative Hardball is reporting that Brose McVey is ready to announce he’s running in 2010 for the 5th Congressional against Dan Burton.

The 2010 Primary is over a year away. And already there’s been talk of a few other candidates jumping in the race to take on Burton. McGoff, Carl Brizzi has been mentioned… and one other.

Brose McVey.

A familiar name to many Republicans. He took on Julia Carson in 2002, ran a good race too. Since then, he has been active in GOP circles and has done some fill in work for Greg Garrison over on WIBC. Well respected and well connected, we all knew it was a matter of time before Brose would be back in the game once again.

And today is that day.

A quick look at McVey’s site gives us this little nugget of information:

I have spoken with Congressman Burton and I want to give him some time to determine whether he’ll seek reelection. I may run regardless, but I believe he deserves some time to make a decision.

My question is, why put up a website if you’re giving Congressman Burton time to decide if he’s going to run again, when he clearly has stated many times over since 2008’s primary he’s ready to run again? The answer is, McVey has already determined he’s going to run regardless of what “decision” Congressman Burton makes.

In the mean time, it’s looking like 2010 is going to be a crowded field as John McGoff, last year’s runner up, has already said he’s running. Many have speculated that Congressman Burton is going to retire before re-destricting, so my question to the candidates who put their hides on the line now is, why burn the bridges now that you’ll undoubtedly need again when he retires? The answer seems to be that in these times, no one cares about loyalty anymore.