Lost In the Statewide Shuffle
The curse of an election season that has a lot of focus on the national climate as well as control of the Indiana House of Representatives is that it’s real easy for a lot of candidates to get lost in the shuffle. If you want to know what I mean, I’m talking about the races for Secretary of State, Treasurer and Auditor.
In case you need a refresher Republican Charlie White and Democrat Vop Osili and Libertarian Mike Wherry are vying for the Secretary of State. Richard Mourdock and Pete Buttigieg are going for Treasurer. Tim Berry and Sam Locke are running against each other for State Auditor.
There’s no question that White’s voting irregularities have raised the race to a higher profile and what would have been a complete snoozer of a race has gotten somewhat interesting, to say the least. And while Osili has tried to capitalize on it with some limited television advertising, the race still remains off the radar screen for most Hoosiers. The last internal polls I had a chance to see still had White with a 13-point lead over Osili; however 30-percent of the voters were still undecided. I truly believe that had this been a “normal” midterm election, Osili would be getting a lot more traction.
In the State Treasurer’s race, Richard Mourdock has been hitting the airwaves pretty heavy and has even shown up on a billboard or two on the Interstates. Buttigieg hasn’t hit the airwaves however he has been pretty good about putting out releases and proposals. The latest flare up in that race is Buttigieg has accused Mourdock or all but stalking him because of a rally that was held in front of Buttigieg’s home in South Bend. Mourdock says there was no stalking, but he and volunteers were canvassing in South Bend and happened to be in Buttigieg’s neighborhood. He says his supporters noticed Buttigieg’s name from the voter list and decided to take a picture in front of his home. He says it was completely innocent and no harm was intended.
Turning to Auditor, Sam Locke is a nice guy, but if I didn’t see the occasional news release from his campaign, I would have no idea he was running. Tim Berry gets all the advantages that being the incumbent State Treasurer brings with it.
At the end of the day, the Statewides are simply a barometer for the mood of the electorate. And while Osili, Buttigieg and Locke are all very bright and likable men, and with the GOP motivated and Democrats scrambling to get their base out, unless something drastic happen, Republicans will keep all three seats. The good news for Democrats is if they are victims of the political bloodbath everyone says is coming, there is going to have to been a major housecleaning in party leadership and it will be time for new blood to step up. Osili, Buttigieg and Locke should definitely get a place at the table.
