AG Race Update

The politicking to replace Steve Carter continues.

Sources continue to predict the withdrawal of Secretary of State Todd Rokita from the race (family considerations, supposedly), though I am told that the social conservatives are marshaling to beat him in a convention floor fight on the chance that he presses forward.

Steve Carter deputy Greg Zoeller has been working the Lincoln Day scene; sources saw him in Jennings County on Monday night and Howey reports that he has also been frequenting the 8th District.

Election Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler, despite word to the contrary that he was not interested due to the lackluster pay, has been characterized to me as "definitely in the race." He has been quietly contacting the party establishment to garner support for a convention bid.

Sources have not heard much about any efforts by former DNR director Kyle Hupfer, who they think is out of the running. Howey no longer features him on his list of candidates. His potential candidacy seems to have completely fallen off of the radar.

The tragic and unexpected passing of Court Clerk John Okeson, whose name was tossed out by Allen County GOP boss Steve Shine, also shortened the list of potential candidates, but in a way that nobody anticipated or wanted.

Some sources have stressed that it is a long time until the convention, and that new and unexpected candidates could surface in that period. If the field does not become more settled in the coming week or two, perhaps with the intervention of the Governor in some form ("the king gets to pick his court," one source told me), it is entirely possible that there will be a flood of potential candidates.

That would make the GOP convention in June certainly interesting and potentially dangerously chaotic. Nobody wants a repeat of 1992.

Moreover, it will be the Governor (if he is reelected) that will be on the line if the Democrats prevail over whoever the convention picks for the Republican nominee for attorney general.

Indiana's attorney general position is weak compared to other states, but the example of what the Democratic attorney general in Kentucky did to Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher is likely ever present in Daniels' mind when considering how to proceed.