Indiana

Three Things I?m Watching

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

I’m keeping an eye on three things this morning; one federal, one state and one local issue. Here they are for your political consumption.

I’ve been checking some more poll data and the trends are not favoring presumptive Republican Presidential nominee John McCain. Although Gallup has Barack Obama ahead by 9 points nationally, it’s the state polls which matter most because of the Electoral Map. Zogby has just released a poll showing Barack ahead in Arizona (42-39). Libertarian Bob Barr is at 7-percent and Ralph Nader is at 2-percent. Zogby expects conservatives to eventually come home to McCain, however being statistically tied with the “most liberal” member of the U.S. Senate in your home state can’t be a good thing.

I’ve also been doing some checking into Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Jill Long Thompson’s call for Indiana’s billion dollar surplus to be returned, in part, to the taxpayers. I expected Governor Mitch Daniels to not be crazy about the idea, I did not expect members of JLT’s own party to stay on the sidelines. When I called House Democrats looking for a response, a spokesman told me “there are no plans to comment at this time.” I don’t think anyone would consider that a ringing endorsement of JLT’s plans.

Also, watch for this tonight. The City-County Council’s Metropolitan Development Committee will take up the appointment of former Council attorney Aaron Haith to the Indianapolis Housing Agency Board. Expect some potential fireworks as Haith is the Democrats’ minority (party not race) appointment to the Board however Republicans will argue that because Haith is under investigation by the Indiana Supreme Court for alleged unethical conduct, that his appointment should be postponed until the Court concludes its investigation.

What are you watching?

Editor’s Note: Make that four items.  Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard is scheduled to do a budget review this afternoon.  It ain’t gonna be pretty.  And Marion County Democrats are picking a new County Chairman this week.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on July 28, 2008 (boomark / email).