Indiana Blog Review

The Gas Tax Shuffle

Scott Fluhr takes a sober -- and smart -- look at the Democrats' call for eliminating the state sales tax on gasoline.

Recount

Mike Kole looks at Steve Osbourn's mysterious call for a recount in his bid to unseat Sen. Lugar, particularly the mystery of it.

I have to agree with Kole that this opened the door for spurious attacks like the one cited from Jim Shella, which is unbefitting a prominent pundit on Hoosier politics.

Spec-u-lation

Jim Shella gives the odds on upcoming races:

The percentage chance that Evan Bayh will say "no" to a run for president:  zero.

The odds that the Indiana General Assembly will finish on time:  1-to-2.

The time it will take Mike Pence to recover from his failed leadership bid:  1 year.

Time frame for the state Senate to announce changes in its pension plan:  less than 3 weeks.

Odds that Bart Peterson will run for re-election:  90 percent.

Odds that Bart Peterson will run for governor in '08:  10 percent.

Amount of time before Pat Bauer and Mitch Daniels exchange public insults:  2 months

Odds Mitch Daniels will run for governor in 2008:  95 percent.

Odds that Republicans will mount a serious challenge to Bart Peterson in '07:  20 percent.

Odds that Democrats will mount a serious challenge to Daniels in '08:  50-50.

Frugal Hoosiers has more commentary on the Dem's '08 gubernatorial aspirations.

More Post-election Commentary

Chris Douglas:

The voters have spoken in Indiana's Marion County, and it's important to understand one of their messages: The Republican Party, both locally and statewide, must now stop its attacks on the glbt community if it is to achieve an electoral majority in a close election.

And if you have interesting comments on the broadcast media ads from this past election, your participation is solicited:

The Howey Political Report and IndianaOnMessage are inviting readers to participate in an interactive project. Most of the legislative and Congressional campaign TV and radio ads are posted on the HPR/IOM websites. We're asking readers to tell us which campaign ads were the best, the worst, and the most innovative and why.

Retreat America

Advance Indiana gleefully points out an FEC ruling that further casts doubts as to the legality of voting guides produced by Eric Miller's front organization, Advance America.

He follows up with a critique of a recent interview with Miller.

(Bil Browning also pokes at the interview.)

Kenn Gividen notes that AA won't include Libertarians in the guides, and Democrats rarely respond, " the guides are little more than a list of Republican candidates."

Koles & Objectives

Mike Kole gives further reflections on his benchmarks.  Ballot access is still pretty huge.

Disconfirmation Bias

Frugal Hoosiers swims upstream and points out three things countering the CW that Indiana is turning into a swing state.

Sparks to Fly

Advance Indiana looks at the future of Indiana's same-sex marriage debate.

The Ethics of the Revolving Door

Jen Wagner posts some details on out-going Chief of Staff Harry Gonso's request on a formal advisory opinion from the Ethics Commission on returning to the private sector.

Standing Pat

RiShawn Biddle, "Expecting Pat Bauer to come up with anything close to a logical agenda once he regained the state House speakership is asking too much. But even he should have better sense than to mess around with Daylight Saving Time again. "