Indiana

Why Can?t We Be Friends?

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

I’m trying to figure out what’s up with Democratic candidate for Governor Jill Long Thompson and former candidate Jim Schellinger.  Schellinger wrote an op-ed piece for the Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette reflecting on the primary. 

He said while running a statewide campaign was challenging, he enjoyed meeting with Hoosiers from across Indiana.  He also admitted to making some mistakes along the trail, but learning quite a bit at the same time.   And he thanked the people he met along the way.  (Your favorite pundit even got a “thank you” letter.)

One person he did not mention was Jill Long Thompson.

I thought it was odd that Schellinger would not acknowledge his rival, because he wished her luck in a June 2 letter to Democratic County Chairmen and other supporters.   It stopped being odd when I realized there is still bad blood between the two camps.

From what I’ve been able to gather, JLT called Schellinger for an endorsement.  He agreed but wanted to talk about it first.  The two also agreed to have their two campaign managers with them.  However, someone from the JLT camp decided the meeting would be a waste of time and cancelled.  

I e-mailed the the JLT folks, but had no reposnse as of last night.

While a Schellinger endorsement wouldn’t make or break the campaign, I think it would go a long way to showing the type of party unity a candidate needs to be successful.

After all if Hillary and Barack can work out their differences,  surely these two can also.

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