A New Sheriff in Town?
When Marion County Democratic Chairman Joel Miller tried to kick me out of a get ot the vote rally his party was having Saturday, I politely told him to go engage in self-copulation and he walked away.
Miller has never been one to have an endearing personality to begin with, but this time he seemed more annoying than usual. And after doing some checking I can see why. Democrats in Marion County are actually worried that they might lose the Sheriff’s race between incumbent John Layton and Republican challenger Emmitt Carney.
Layton, despite having huge advantages in both money and name ID, according to his own internal polls is statistically tied with Carney. You can tell because he started running a negative ad against Carney. And usually you don’t do that at this stage in the game unless there’s something wrong.
Carney has actually been running a relatively decent engagement campaign by showing up in places a lot of Republicans don’t usually go i.e. urban neighborhoods, and he has been well received. Carney has also had billboards up in predominantly black neighborhoods. (He’s African-American by the way)
Also throw in what is expected to be near record low turnout and anything can happen. And that’s what Democrats are worried about. I am already hearing that the finger pointing is beginning. (You can get more details in my political gossip column, The Cheat Sheet)
Now I still think the environment favors Layton simply because of the political demographics of Marion County, but if there’s a race to watch for an upset to happen, the Sheriff’s race could be it.
