Comments on Advance Indiana™: Ballard Will Get No Help From MSM

8:33,Those figures you gave are UNIGOV numbers.Ple...

2007-05-17T08:36:00.000-05:00

8:33,
Those figures you gave are UNIGOV numbers.
Please explain the loss of 156,00 people from the old city limits of Indianapolis from pre-Unigov until 2007. A population loss of 32% from the city's central core.
The change in Indianapolis demographics has been well documented for use by urban planners, corporate business interests as well as political parties.
Yes, diversity is a positive if the economics remain on a level playing field amoungst the various races. Unfortunately,economic empowerment is an issue, in the old city limits as well as those areas created by Unigov.
Marion County has far less middle and upper middle class residents than it did during the pre-Unigov period.

US Census Bureau InformationMarion County Populati...

2007-05-16T20:33:00.000-05:00

US Census Bureau Information
Marion County Population
1970: 792,299
1980: 765,233
1990: 797,159
2000: 860,454
2006: 865,504 est.

Very slight growth but given the birthrate trends this is to be expected. There has been a demographic shift in that the county is clearly more racially diverse. However, Hamilton County is also more racially diverse than it was 10 years ago.

The Republicans have got to stop blaming demographics and roll up their sleeves. The Democrats shouldn't take the county for granted. Neither should confuse Independents with independents. Given the number of Peterson signs in R yards the last time he ran and the number of Brizzi signs in D yards, there are plenty of independents Republicans and Democrats out there.

I"m not a Republican either, but I wish Wilson wou...

2007-05-16T15:52:00.000-05:00

I"m not a Republican either, but I wish Wilson would post more. He's often the one sane voice in this menagerie of a blog full of twisted logic and resentful has-beens and/or wanna be's.

And, Gary, you rag so much on the Mayor that you sound like a twisted old man. For god's sake, he's clearly not the "worst mayor in decades".

It's a bunch of silliness and if anyone other than these wackos took these negative posts seriously, this town would driy up and blow away. Thank god blogs like this attract so few readers.

Indy rocks!

I meant 12:43 on my post on demographics not 10:00...

2007-05-16T13:07:00.000-05:00

I meant 12:43 on my post on demographics not 10:00

12:43, Amusing take on the change in the political...

2007-05-16T13:05:00.000-05:00

12:43, Amusing take on the change in the political landscape. Where precisely did 156,000 people move to when they left the confines of the pre-Unigov city limits from 1970 to 2007?
Demographic changes are not based on theory, they are based on fact. Do you suppose the huge white middle and upper middle class population explosion in the donut counties ame from no where??

The theory on Independent Voters is pure hogwash. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN INDEPENDENT VOTER!
An Independent Voter is someone who votes for candidates that someone else selects for them to vote for. The self-proclaimed Independent Voter can of course, ask for a Democrat or a Republican ballot in the primary, but then that's not very Independent because they're voting for a PARTY'S NOMINATED OR SLATED CANDIDATE. Funny, I don't recall the Independent Party results from the primary. Who won?

I'm not a republican, but I wish Wilson would shut...

2007-05-16T13:04:00.000-05:00

I'm not a republican, but I wish Wilson would shut up.

All this talk about demogrpahic shift and the Repu...

2007-05-16T12:43:00.000-05:00

All this talk about demogrpahic shift and the Republicans moving out amusing. You miss the bit about all the former Republicans who still live in Marion County. They are now independent voters who will go to the polls and vote for Brizzi and Peterson, not because they are big money folks but becasue they think they are the best candidates.

10:00 AM,You are absolutely right, the phony Unigo...

2007-05-16T10:47:00.000-05:00

10:00 AM,
You are absolutely right, the phony Unigov doesn't work any more. It ran it's course and it was replaced by the only thing it could have been replaced with, a Democratic Mayor propped up by the same type Republicans that ran Indy under Unigov for over 30 years.
The demographics changed, not the money politics.
When 156,000 people moved out of the old pre-Unigov Indianapolis City limits between 1970 and 2007 where did all those people go? First they moved to the townships and now they are in the donut counties. The Republican base no longer resides in Marion County, they moved out. Their kids moved out.
But Republican business interests remained to some degree in Marion County and even that is starting to change with more and more locating to the exurbs when their abatements are not renewed and public monies dry up.
Peterson's campaign contributor lists speak volumes on who's running the city.

AI- As I am sure you remember, Tully has a history...

2007-05-16T10:04:00.000-05:00

AI- As I am sure you remember, Tully has a history of dissing "non-competitive" candidates. Remember his article basically mocking the Libertarian Party for even thinking that they should get any coverage for events/platform? Or his article of disdain about how he doesn't "cover" county races (except sheriff and prosecutor), but had to write just to make fun of the R Clerk candidate's crime ad? The funny thing is that if the Star and it's pol writers actually bothered to try to educate voters on all the candidates AND the actual functions of the different offices, I might actually give some weight to their Johnny come lately lamenting when their is a real story about one of these 'neglected' offices. Point in case: I think it is hilarious that the Star did not even endorse in the Coroner's race. Why? Probably because they decided that nobody cared. Oooops. Not that I expect the Star to admit that they might actually have failed in their role as the 4th estate. Glad to see the Star is continuing it's great tradition of not learning from it's own mistakes...

Wilson's rant was fairly predictable, Gary, but yo...

2007-05-16T10:00:00.000-05:00

Wilson's rant was fairly predictable, Gary, but yours was a little surprising.

Yeah, the Mayor disappoints me sometimes, too. But now the Republicans can see what it was like for Dems in this county prior to 1999.

I've known BP for a long time. He's not your typical millionaire. He does trust his underlings a little too much, especially the county chairman, who just delivered a near-fatal gut punch to the county's voters and the new clerk.

Republicans were a paper dictatorship propped up by a phoney Unigov. It worked for over 30 years. It doesn't work any more.

I stopped paying attention to Tully last year. He was on a TV panel questioning our Congresswoman, when she whacked out. She was drooling, and talking about some little girl who ate her food at a picnic. Love her to death, but that was a scary incident.

Tully, like the other limp media in this town, sat there, and didn't push her. Later, when confronted, he defended his inaction.

He witnessed a Congressional meltdown first-hand. We saw it on TV. He did nothing. Absolutely nothing. No tough questions, no follow-ups with her staff to ask why she was so ditzy...nothing. His responsibility as a journalist was to delve into it. But no, he was too busy.

Tully is a lazy, under-informed columnist for a newspaper that's dying. Slowly. And they don't even know they're sick, which makes it all the more difficult to watch.

So if you're expecting Tully to define a credible challenger's campaign, you're whizzing up a rope, friend.

Use your own good sense to make that definition. Tully's bullshit barometer is stuck on coffee break.

Blogs like yours are often good sources of credible information. But because they are so open, they're often gathering spots for the fringes. Thus is the plight of many blogs.

Blogs are a perfect adjunct to the whole media experience. Now if we only had credible MMM in this town to complete the picture. Alas, we have very little of it.

And Precedent money courtesy of NIPSCO and the Cit...

2007-05-16T08:53:00.000-05:00

And Precedent money courtesy of NIPSCO and the City of Gary.

About 1.1 million worth....

Gilroy had a very good chance of beating Peterson ...

2007-05-16T08:51:00.000-05:00

Gilroy had a very good chance of beating Peterson at the beginning of that race. She held a commanding lead in the polls until the last two months of the race when her campaign started running negative attack ads against him, which backfired on her. Peterson also dumped a substantial amount of his personal wealth into the race.

What were the odds of Gilroy winning that race Wil...

2007-05-16T08:34:00.000-05:00

What were the odds of Gilroy winning that race Wilson? Probably damn near as good as your's would have been had you ran in her place.

Brizzi, take a look at his donor list too.

Ever really wonder just exactly why Kennedy was selected to run against Brizzi? Please refer back to Gilroy.

When Mr.Republican Beurt SerVass publicly stated his support for Peterson that might give a little insight too.

We have a Republican Mayor who HAD to run on the Democratic ticket to win.
Comparing big boy Peterson support to Brizzi big boy support is apples and oranges. PETERSON CONTROLS AND HANDS OUT THE MONEY.

You may rest assured Wilson, there will be few if any Republicans elected in Marion County again.

So the Sue Ann Gilroy candidacy was just a sham? A...

2007-05-16T08:09:00.000-05:00

So the Sue Ann Gilroy candidacy was just a sham? And the "big boys" also chickened out on the Brizzi race?

AI,I think the "real" movers and shakers in the "r...

2007-05-16T07:57:00.000-05:00

AI,
I think the "real" movers and shakers in the "real Republican Party" already have THEIR candidate.
Just a Bulen, Burhardt and others crafted Unigov in secret over 37 years ago, the same was done with selecting Bart Peterson BEFORE he evan ran. Peterson didn't volunteer for the job as Mayor, he was SELECTED in much the same manner that Lugar was. You may wish to contact Beurt SerVaas to verify.
The old money Republicans realized Marion County's shift in demographics and planned accordingly so as to protect and enhance their financial interests.
As a result they were willing to let the Marion County Republican Party simply fade away. The demographic changes caused their old Republican party to simply outlive it's usefulness to them.

Bart Peterson has over $3 million dollars in his campaign war chest. A carefull analysis of his list of contributors is proof enough of what I stated above.
Is it possible to have a Republican Mayor who is elected as a Democrat? The $3 million and who it came from is answer enough.

I'm sure Garrison and Abdul will give Ballard endl...

2007-05-16T07:47:00.000-05:00

I'm sure Garrison and Abdul will give Ballard endless free airtime to ramble on about firm, decisive leadership and whatever his platform actually is. By the way, does Ballard even have a position on anything except being a nice guy to be the sacrificial lamb for the GOP?

With all the discussion of the Primary kerfuffle, why was GOP County Chair doing all the hollering on the media? Wouldn't it have been wiser to let Ballard get out front to show "firm, decisive leadership"?

Tully's column says Ballard sent out a press relea...

2007-05-16T07:40:00.000-05:00

Tully's column says Ballard sent out a press release Monday. Yet some media outlets, that would provide him coverage, didn't receive it. Coverage works two ways. IF a candidate sends out information, holds media events, reahes out to media and media ignores the candidate then blame the media. But if the candidate doesn't sent out releases, holds events and doesn't let media know about them and doesn't reach out, don't blame the media, blame the candidate.

He needs to raise 100K per month to have, as Tully...

2007-05-16T07:30:00.000-05:00

He needs to raise 100K per month to have, as Tully likes to say, a credible campaign. The R voters in the county need to chip in to this race. BArt won 92,000 vs 55,000. The R's need the 100,000 people who voted for Brizzi ( who spent 3 mill on his race ? ) to get out and contribue and vote again.

... but Ballard already has IndyU has his semi-off...

2007-05-16T07:11:00.000-05:00

... but Ballard already has IndyU has his semi-official blog! The crazies over there will really help his public image, won't they? A coupla-three more Fat Yellow Chickens and Greg will win in a landslide? J-T A's persuasive powers of logic and history will surely bring in the African-American vote too! If Ballard comes out against gay marriage, illegal aliens and IslamoFascist jihadists, will the 25th Floor be his?