Indiana

20 Days Late and $700 Billion Short

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

Jill Long Thompson and I need to sit down and have a real long talk.  No, I take that back.  With 19 days and change left until the election we need to have a really, really, really long talk.

Although I have my opinions, I always tried to keep an open mind with her campaign and never take anything out of context and be fair.  But yesterday was it.  I am now officially convinced that in an era where the Republican brand is about as appealing as O.J. Simpson at a Goldman family reunion,  in an era where the incumbent Governor has some major vulnerabilities, and in an era where every voter and homeless guy is asking for change,  in a state of 6.2 million people Indiana Democrats may have actually picked the one person who can lose against Mitch Daniels.   I though JLT had a chance at winning this race, despite the odds, but I think this race is now over and she will have no to thank/blame but herself.

I say this because of yesterday’s news conference where JLT made the accusation that the state of Indiana’s Major Moves funds were being invested in junk bonds and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and she blamed Daniels for it.  She called for tighter controls on the state’s investments strategy.

The problem with this line of attack, which for the record started in the political rumor mill, made its way into the blogosphere, into the Tuesday night debate and then the Wednesday morning news conference is that it’s 20 days late and $700 billion short.

The problem with tying Major Moves funds to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is that the it would have been a story had their not been a federal bailout that both Presidential candidates voted for and is effectively over for all intent and purposes.

Second, someone in the 800 block of north Delaware needs to read the Indiana Constitution because the State Treasurer oversees Indiana’s investments.  Now did Indiana invest in some risky stocks, sure.  Anyone who has a 401 K or mutual fund probably has a risky investment in their portfolio.  But there’s a difference when those investments are 1-3% of your portfolio versus 40-70%.  And then to add insult to injury, the campaign puts information saying the state should have got $11billion for the Toll Road.

I can forgive a lot of things but blatant careless and bad campaigning aren’t two of them.   I’m assuming that the JLT camp has been upset and distracted by the fact that they are behind in the polls and Lt. Governor Becky Skillman has more cash on hand in her campaign than JLT.  I’m not making this up.  Whatever it is JLT’s last best hope to win the Governor’s office will be the Obama wave in Indiana.  

Because if she does win, it won’t be because of anything she did, but in spite of everything she did. 

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on October 16, 2008 (boomark / email).