From Saturday’s Indianapolis Star:

On Friday, Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker called on other politicians who have taken Durham’s money — almost all Republicans — to pay it back, whether or not they have already spent it.

“If they agree with the premise that the money shouldn’t have been in the process to begin with, where they spent it is irrelevant,” Parker said. “You need to find a way to get it out of the process.”

Well, let’s see…

Who listened to Dan Parker?

Well, not the Democratic National Committee and not Baron Hill:

“Tim Durham is innocent until proven guilty, and we’ll reassess once that decision has been rendered,” Democratic Rep. Baron Hill said in a statement relayed by a spokesman, when asked if he planned to give back his $5,600 contribution.

A spokesman for the Democratic National Committee also said it would not give back the $3,000 it received.

Attorney General Greg Zoeller and State Senator Mike Delph, though, have the right idea:

Republican Attorney General Greg Zoeller, who is up for re-election in 2012, and state Sen. Mike Delph, who is running for re-election in 2012, each received about $10,000.

And both have set aside an equivalent amount pending resolution of the investigation. That way, if the money is tainted, they can give it to charity or even to a fraud victim’s fund, if one is established.

There you have it. Baron Hill and the Democrats aren’t returning Tim Durham’s money, despite trying to score political points by calling for others to give it back.

The only people to have made arrangements to return Durham’s money are principled Republicans like Greg Zoeller and Mike Delph.

I’d also like to call attention to Becky Skillman, who was the only statewide elected official up last year (and perhaps period) who did not take any money at all from Tim Durham.

…that Jackie Walorski, conservative state legislator extraordinaire and suspected Secretary of State candidate, will not be running for Secretary of State after all. I have a call in to confirm, and will hopefully update this post as soon as I hear back.

A run by Walorski would have split the sort of anti-Indianapolis, anti-establishment, pro-conservative winning convention coalition pioneered last June to such stunning and decisive effect by Greg Zoeller and his campaign. Her candidacy, coupled with that of Charlie White, would have fractured that coalition (at least to the extent that it could even be reassembled or replicated; not that Charlie White running doesn’t similarly fracture the losing Costas coalition also).

On top of the “Jackie’s out” rumors, I’ve now started hearing buzz about a candidacy for Secretary of State by Mitch’s hand-picked Republican State Chairman, Murray Clark (one of my favorite people).

Murray Clark versus Charlie White, assuming that White were to stay in (I’m told that he won’t get out and is in it to win it) and Murray Clark would run as rumor has it (Clark has always wanted to grow up to be governor and SOS would be a useful stepping stone), would bring to mind echoes of Zoeller versus Costas, a redux of last year’s particularly divisive and heated–though abbreviated–convention fight.

Back in the spring of last year, Greg Zoeller announced that he would be running for attorney general, much to the ire of the Indianapolis establishment. He went on to trounce the establishment candidate in a convention floor fight, win a tough race in November, and is now Indiana’s attorney general.

In his announcement press release, Zoeller touted the support of two GOP district chairmen, Marsha Carrington of the 8th and Larry Shickles of the 9th. They (and many other supporters of Zoeller) were told that Indianapolis would be “keeping score.”

With district-level GOP reorganization set for this Saturday, the only two contested district races in the entire state are against Carrington and Shickles; it strains credulity to find this to be a mere coincidence.

In the 9th, Shickles is facing Erin Houchin, an Indianapolis political insider with close ties to the Governor and to the Indy establishment.

Houchin is also the vice chairman of the Washington County GOP; at a district-level meeting of county chairs and vice chairs held in Salem (in Washington County) two weeks ago (on February 28), she wasn’t even present. At that time, she had not declared her candidacy; word she was running did not come out until Tuesday evening (March 10). The filing deadline was Wednesday morning.

Speculation just one day before had been that former state legislator Billy Bright (who has been very involved in helping the House Republican Campaign Committee with candidate recruitment and other efforts in southern Indiana) might be mulling a bid against Shickles, but Bright did not run (and he’s not exactly a poster child for the Indy establishment, as a side note).

Then came the Houchin bid, which is apparently to be coupled with a bid by former Jackson County Chairman Dennis Carmichael to be the district vice chairman. Carmichael did not get reelected in last week’s reorganization in Jackson County; unless I am mistaken, he didn’t seek reelection for whatever reason (which makes one wonder why he’s running for district vice chairman instead, but I digress).

(Read more after the leap)

As he pledged to do on the campaign trail last year, Indiana’s new Attorney General Greg Zoeller is working to pass a bill in the General Assembly to put discipline back in our public schools.

Attorney General Greg Zoeller will testify today in favor of a bill designed to provide some legal protection to school employees who discipline disruptive students. Zoeller will appear before the Indiana Senate Committee on Education and Career Development. He joined Governor Mitch Daniels and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett as a proponent of the proposal during his election campaign.

Encouraging news….

From the AP:

A new statewide poll shows GOP candidate Greg Zoeller for attorney general and Tony Bennett for superintendent of public instruction lead their Democratic rivals.

The WISH-TV Indiana Poll finds Zoeller leading Democratic attorney general candidate Linda Pence 51 percent to 39 percent. The same poll finds Bennett leading Democrat Richard Wood 45 percent to 39 percent in the race for superintendent of public instruction.

The poll was taken Oct. 24 through Tuesday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Wood has gained some ground on Bennett since a similar poll taken Sept. 29 through Oct. 3 showed Bennett with a 36 percent to 29 percent lead.

From the Journal Gazette Yesterday -

Zoeller knows best how to be Attorney General

The recent political advertisements on behalf of Democratic attorney general candidate Linda Pence leave voters with an inaccurate impression of the job duties of the attorney general.

If voters are to make an informed decision with regard to the candidates they choose, it is vitally important to understand what the job duties consist of for the positions that they are voting for.

It is easy to claim that you want to protect children and pursue predators, but the office of attorney general is not an office of a prosecuting attorney. With the exception of environmental crimes, the attorney general has no ability to go into individual counties to prosecute criminal cases, whether those criminal cases include children victimized by violence or any other criminal offense. The office of attorney general is not a “super prosecutor.”

The attorney general has no statutory authority to initiate these criminal cases. The office of attorney general instead represents the state of Indiana in the following way: When a local prosecutor achieves a conviction in a criminal case, that conviction may be appealed by the defendant. It is then up to the attorney general’s office to represent the state and the local prosecution at the appellate level to preserve the conviction.

I wholeheartedly endorse Greg Zoeller for the office of attorney general because of his experience with the attorney general’s office. Steve Carter has been an exemplary attorney general. His chief deputy has been Greg Zoeller, who is well aware of how the office functions and how to best serve Hoosiers.

The fact that Pence continues to run an ad that allows Hoosier voters to reach an inaccurate conclusion as to the job duties that she seeks to fill, especially her inaccurate focus on protection of children from predators when she has no statutory authority to file or try these types of criminal cases, makes the choice for attorney general and the vote for Zoeller even more important.

Zoeller’s statement that local prosecutors put defendants in jail, and it’s his office’s duty to keep them there is an accurate description of what the office of attorney general is supposed to do, and his clear understanding of his mission merits our support.

KAREN E. RICHARDS Prosecuting Attorney 38th Judicial Circuit State of Indiana

The South Bend Tribune has announced their endorsement of Greg Zoeller for Attorney General today.  They join a long list of newspapers around the state that have endorsed Zoeller including -

Indy Star

Fort Wayne News Sentinel

Northwest Indiana Times

The Franklin Online

Evansville Courier-Press

On the other hand, Linda Pence has received the endorsement of one newspaper – the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.

Additionally, the Fraternal Order of Police chose to endorse Greg Zoeller for Attorney General.

Zoeller favored:

Of the five open state attorney general seats up for election Tuesday, Democrats are expected to win all of the races but one — the one seat currently held by a Republican, polls indicate.

Democratic candidates for attorney general are expected to win in Missouri, Montana and Ohio. In Oregon, where no Republican ran for the seat being vacated by Attorney General Hardy Myers, the Democratic candidate is all but guaranteed a win.

The one open seat where the Republican candidate is favored to win is in Indiana, where Greg Zoeller, the chief deputy to Attorney General Steve Carter is vying to succeed his boss.

Zoeller is running against Democrat Linda Pence, a high-profile Indianapolis attorney. Zoeller leads Pence 30 percent to 24 percent in a recent Howey-Gauge Poll.

Interestingly, Zoeller leads Pence by six points in a state where Republican presidential nominee John McCain leads Democrat Barack Obama by just two points, according to the same poll.

The Howey-Gauge Poll of 600 likely voters was conducted October 23 and 24, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percent.

Good news, even if the site has an awful photo of Zoeller (his campaign website really needs a downloadable press kit with a good photo in it).

From WISH TV:

INDIANAPOLIS – A Statehouse scandal is now an issue in the race for attorney general. Democrat Linda Pence is under fire from Republicans for her role in an old case.

When State Senator Sam Smith went to court six years ago accused of tax evasion, Linda Pence was his defense attorney. Smith eventually made a plea deal and paid his back taxes, but the case is back in a campaign commercial purchased by Indiana Republicans that criticizes Pence’s choice of clients.

Both the Pence and Greg Zoeller (R) campaigns have traded attack ads. The Pence campaign said it welcomes comparisons.

“People come to Linda Pence because she’s good and she’s effective and she’s a fighter and she wins. So we’re not surprised at all that they’re gonna attack Linda’s clients. Her shoulders are broad, she can take that,” said Joel Miller of the Pence campaign.

Meantime Republicans believe Sam Smith could be a deciding factor in a close race.

(Read more after the leap)

The Chicago Tribune observes that Mitch Daniels won’t be at the Sarah Palin rally in Jeffersonville today, but that he might try to stop by outside to say hello and talk to some folks as they stand in line.

JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. – Gov. Mitch Daniels will skip a Sarah Palin campaign rally in Indiana for the third time in 12 days when she visits Jeffersonville on Wednesday, but he’ll make an appearance in the parking lot before the event.

Daniels, who supports the John McCain-Palin ticket, said he has a scheduling conflict while he campaigns for a second term. The Republican governor will be in vicinity of Palin’s rally at a Jeffersonville warehouse, but at another site.

“When they only give us 48 hours’ notice … we plan a little further out than that. I’ve not been willing to cancel on people who have made plans in preparation for our coming,” Daniels said at a news conference in Indianapolis on Tuesday to kick off a southern Indiana campaign swing.

(Read more after the leap)

If the latest Howey/Gauge Market Research poll says anything about the Governor’s race, it’s that it’s essentially over and Jill Long Thompson’s campaign is D.O.A. for election day.

According to HPI:

Daniels is poised for a resounding victory. The governor leads in the Fort Wayne media market 63-31 percent; in South Bend 66-31 percent; Indianapolis 65-29 percent; Louisville 64-25 percent; while the Chicago market is tied at 44 percent. Thompson leads among African-Americans by only a 56-41 percent margin. Daniels’ standing with African-Americans has increased 14 percent since our August poll. Daniels is winning 37 percent of the Democratic vote – more than one in three – and among independents 64-21 percent.

Daniels is also getting 40 percent of the Obama vote. Gov. Daniels’ re-elect stood at 59/33 percent. Mitch Daniels re-elect support is among the strongest in the nation for a Republican holding a major office, Davis said.

Howey went on to say:

The numbers bear out our analysis: that the Thompson campaign is one of the worst gubernatorial campaigns we’ve ever witnessed.

If being 12% down in the South Bend Tribune/WSBT poll is “confidence” what is being down 31 percent?  That must be the “We’ve got them right where we want them” kind of feeling.

The poll didn’t just cover the governor’s race.  It also looked at the presidential race, the 3rd Congressional district race as well as a brief look at the two other statewide races.  The good and, what could be, very bad news after the leap.