"Diamond Jim" Schellinger may have the money and the endorsements in the 2008 Democratic gubernatorial race, but he isn't winning support among many rank and file Democrats. Commenting on a recently released "get to know me" clip the Schellinger campaign unveiled this past week, a long-time Democratic observer said, "God, the penny story was so obviously made up by some campaign handler to use on the stump it was just downright embarrassing." Schellinger started telling this story about the penny with which the old guy up in South Bend entrusted him about the same time the millionaire started telling Hoosiers he and his wife were living from paycheck to paycheck until recently. You may recall the "Jim Schellinger Is A Phony" post awhile back on that matter.
Some Democratic leaders have come to realize that average day Hoosiers haven't warmed up to Diamond Jim and probably won't. The Ken and Barbie thing that works for Evan and Susan just isn't playing for Jim and Laura. As Rex Early would say, "That dog won't hunt." Not surprisingly, former House Speaker John Gregg was quick to send out an e-mail to old supporters this week after losing his Saturday morning radio gig at WIBC saying it's "time for me to get serious about new options" notes Brian Howey. Both Howey and political commentator Ed Feigenbaum confirm this week that there is some Democratic unrest with the current choices of Schellinger and front-runner Jill Long Thompson. A draft Gregg effort may be in the works.
Some of these top dogs in the Democratic Party will kick Schellinger to the curb quicker than they kicked Joe Andrew four years ago after Gov. Frank O'Bannon died and his successor Joe Kernan was convinced to run for a full term. These Democrats fear an all but certain Ann Delaney-like candidate in Jill Long Thompson unless drastic steps are taken now. With the likelihood of Hillary Clinton topping their national ticket, these Democrats fear a complete meltdown if Thompson is at the top of the statewide ticket below Clinton.
5 comments:
This posting comes under the heading "don't believe everthing you read,
Bravo! Well said...
Ha. . . if you had listened to Gregg's show, you probably would have come to the conclusion that he was going to be Schellinger's running mate. A caller asked him about teaming up with Schellinger, and he did not dismiss it out of hand. Gregg spun some yarn about how people will spread all kinds of rumors about him because he left the Speaker post of his own accord on good terms, but in the end he didn't say, "I'm not going to be Schellinger's running mate".
Certainly there is some merit in the D dissatisfaction with options observations... But please explain what on earth you mean by comparing Jill LT to Ann D. Apart from being white females I'm at a loss here.
10:07 is spot on.
Ann Delaney: smart, bitchy history, bibtchy currently.
Jill: smarter, wonk, geek, polite, not warm but distantly-friendly.
JS may not ignite the rank and file like his endorsers had hoped.
But any fear about Hillary at the top of the ticket will wane with her VP choice. And try though they might, the neocons have railed against HC for more than 16 years. Unless things change dramatically, she will be our next president.
And she won't fare any worse or better in Indiana than a typical Dem presidential nominee.
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