When I talk to my Democratic friends about now former U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett running for Mayor of Indianapolis in 2015, you would think they were talking about the second coming and the only thing missing is the donkey and the palm leaves.

I don’t blame them, there has to be something frustrating about Greg Ballard being on the 25th floor for the last seven years.

When Ballard first decided to run in 2007, they didn’t take him seriously and called him everything but a child of God.  After winning, they labelled him the “Accidental Mayor”.  They were mad, but they thought his victory was a fluke, so they recruited Melina Kennedy to take him on in 2011.

After he beat them a second time, they blamed Kennedy’s campaign.

What’s interesting and ironic, particularly in the 2011 race is that there were 12,000 more Democratic straight-ticket voters than Republican, but Ballard beat Kennedy by about 8,000 votes.  So Ballard had enough crossover appeal, particularly in the Black community to pull off a win.

This is why Ballard frustrates Democrats so much.  They don’t like him.  They don’t respect him. They even try labeling him a racist, which no serious person believed.  But after $8 million spent all they got was a 0-2 record.  Thus, the reason why they high on Hogsett.

However, while they think Hogsett is the golden boy, he has quite a few vulnerabilities, especially when it comes to crime that will be more than fair game, should he decided to run.

Of course this is all wild speculation, especially since it’s unclear if Ballard will run for a third term. And the Mayor does have some weak areas and third terms are always tricky, but should he decided to go he will have the best political operatives in the state working for him.  Regardless it will be fun to watch, will Ballard go 3-0 or will Hogsett go 2-5.

I’m looking forward to it.