Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The Plot Thickens

Evan Bayh announces his retirement from the US Senate. The shocking statement sends ripples through the Democratic Party. The inconvenient truth is that to get on the primary ballot to run for the now-vacant Senate seat, a candidate must collect 4500 signatures by midnight tonight. That's a scant twenty-four hours from the surprise announcement.

Few were ready to challenge Bayh for his seat but now the door is open. The problem is hitting the ground running. Petition signatures for a ballot slot can be very difficult. Getting people to sign isn't that tough. Meeting the bureacratic hurdles might be. The forms are specified in detail. The qualifications of petition carriers are often restrictive. The signatures must be registered voters in the party. The sheets must usually be notarized. Typically more than half of submitted signatures will be disallowed. Sometimes entire sheets will be thrown out for an incorrect date or similarly insignificant flaw. Nine congressional districts must be gathered with a minimum of 500 signatures from each. Tough job in 24 hours.

Only one Democrat has indicated she will give it a shot. That's Tamyra d'Ippolito. Now, we've got an evolving drama in which it is beginning to look like some collusion by the White House has taken place. Would you believe that the fingerprints of Rahm Emmanuel are on this?

d'Ippolito Scrambles But Hill Is Ready!

Isn't that amazing. He's currently out of the country, but it seems that he's gotten a lot of signatures just in case. What a great planner!

Baron Hill Might Be Ready

The spin in these articles is that Hill is a "blue dog". But, why then would the Bamster want to elevate one of the party mavericks that have been balking his programs to the US Senate? How would he keep him in line? Is it a quid pro quo; you get a Senate seat in return for staying in lock-step?

And what kind of a guy is Hill?

1 comment:

juvat said...

To quote a film, Baron, "Stoopid is as Stoopid does". Yes, we ARE going to tell you how to run your congressional office. You work for us, not the other way round. Got to say, your party's mascot is a perfect description of you.