Indiana

Pre-Conventional Wisdom

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

As the Democratic National Committee gets underway,  I had a few thoughts I thought I would share.

• Despite Evan Bayh not being on the ticket, Indiana is still in play and will come down to a good old-fashioned ground war.  The GOP has one of the best get-out-the-vote operations in the nation, but the Obama people are opening offices and engaging in massive voter registration drives.
• The last best hope for Jill Long Thompson to run a competitive race against Mitch Daniels just went out the window.  Had Barack picked Evan Byah, the Governor’s race would have become a U.S. Senate race because the Governor would pick Bayh’s replacement.  Millions of dollars would have flown into the state to her campaign.  Now she’s on her own.
• The Biden pick also makes me turn my attention towards Mitt Romney as John McCain’s VP choice. 
• A final note from Springfield, one unofficial count put the crowd at 30,000.  Not bad from the 10,000 that were there 17 months ago.  However, I’ve never seen so many people who drive hybrid vehicles leave behind so much paper, trash and empty water bottles.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on August 25, 2008 (boomark / email).