A slight snag:
Democrats will have to wait until after the May 4 primary to officially pick their nominee to replace Sen. Evan Bayh.
Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker, who had said he wanted a candidate quickly, said Thursday that “the sooner rather than later has now become later.”
Parker had hoped to call a meeting of the Democratic Party’s state central committee’s 32 voting members as early as next week. But after party attorneys researched state law, they discovered they could not fill the ballot vacancy until after the primary.
That’s just as well for U.S. Rep. Brad Ellsworth, who said Thursday he needs more time to make a decision.
And it won’t be a problem for U.S. Rep. Baron Hill. Friends said he is interested in exploring a run for Senate, but he has been out of the country on a congressional mission.
The primary, as you are aware, is on May 4th — over ten weeks down the line. For state Democrats who wanted to coalesce quickly around Brad Ellsworth, that creates a bit of an awkward interim period, especially if more Democrats, like Hill, express their interest in the race. After a bit of uncertainty yesterday, Chris Cillizza reports that Ellsworth will indeed enter the race “shortly”. It’s also not yet clear how state Democrats will resolve the uncertainty over the replacement process for Ellsworth in the 8th CD. Will they attempt to withdraw his name from the primary ballot?
UPDATE: Ellsworth has made it official.
LATER UPDATE: Democratic state Rep. Trent Van Haaften has filed to run for Ellsworth’s House seat. Will any strong Republicans follow suit?
EVEN LATER UPDATE: It doesn’t look like the GOP has been able to sneak in a top-tier candidate under the wire in the 8th CD. The Hotline ID’d Gibson Co. Prosecutor Rob Kreig and state Treasurer Richard Mourdock as two GOP candidates considering last-minute bids, but the filing deadline closed at noon local time, and it doesn’t look like either of those guys pulled the trigger. The GOP appears stuck with physician Larry Bucschon — not the worst possible candidate, but far from their ideal choice.
It won’t be official but doesn’t mean he can’t raise money and start the process of reaching out to people. Assuming nobody else gets in. I think Baron Hill is a non-starter so hopefully he gets dissuaded.
I mean what do you want them to do, dispute the law? By the time that’s settled it will be primary day. It’s akward but unless they find some loophole in the law Ellsworth will have to wait.
until after the primary. I don’t see why they cannot decide who will be the person to fill that vacancy beforehand.
Lautenberg has stomach cancer.
His age could only complicate matters.
I wish the best for him.
Question is: can they? the filing deadline has passed and there’s more than one GOPer in the race.
I won’t pretend to understand Indiana election law (my efforts to decipher it this past week have repeatedly gotten details wring).
That said, I am wondering if there will, in fact, be a vacancy for the Senate nomination after May 4th?
Even though no candidates have filed, don’t voters still have the option of writing in a candidate in the Senate race? Or does Indiana law mean that since no candidate has filed for the office, there is a vacancy that only the party hase filled.
If, in fact, write-ins are allowed, wouldn’t it be better for one or more serious candidates to seek the nomination by asking Democratic voters for their write-in votes? If that happens, the issue of the nominee being selected in a backroom deal by party insiders would have less credibility, and the nominee would be able to say they have won the nomination in a primary?
Any insights into what Indiana law says about this?