Rumor Has It...

I have not blogged about the AG race lately, as there isn't a whole lot to say.

Mitch has long-since thrown his backing behind Jon Costas, the man that he hand-picked to be a candidate in the first place. That's about as surprising as the director for some movie saying that the movie's lead actor deserves an Academy Award; it's about as ringing an endorsement as a candidate being endorsed by their own mother.

Now, however, Hoosierpundit sources in Marion County have an interesting tidbit from the rumor mill about the looming GOP convention floor fight for attorney general.

Carl Brizzi, the Republican prosecutor in Marion County, endorsed Greg Zoeller, whose unwillingness to yield to Mitch Daniels' grand design threatens to torpedo the Governor's pick for attorney general in a potentially embarrassing convention floor fight.

Brizzi's endorsement has put Marion County's hundreds of convention delegates in play, and there are almost a hundred open convention delegate slots from Indy.

Perhaps fearing weakness by Costas (large areas of the state have lined up in favor of Zoeller), the Governor and his allies have gone into overdrive to push a turnout of pro-Costas delegates from Indianapolis.

Because the GOP state convention is a one-day affair, on a weekday, in Indianapolis, getting delegates to the convention from the rest of the state will be difficult (traditionally, just getting a quorum at the convention has proven difficult at times in the past).

But getting big delegate turnout from Indy will be easy.

The Marion County GOP is now mandating that appointed convention delegates sign a loyalty oath, a signed affidavit, pledging to vote for Jon Costas for attorney general. The pressure upon these would-be delegates is significant, and the desire to ram through the Costas nomination high.

One can't also help but wonder if certain Ron Paul supporters, who have already made trouble in GOP state conventions in states such as Nevada, might well be willing to make such loyalty oaths to gain convention delegate appointments and cause endless trouble in other areas.

And that is only the beginning of the unintended consequences of strong-arming delegates with such tactics, and thus effectively limiting the pool of willing and eager convention attendees.

The efforts in Marion County raise serious questions about the Costas candidacy.

If Costas' victory must be obtained by the Governor ramming it down the throat of the convention--a gathering of a party base that is already fractious and frequently none-to-happy with the Governor for reasons best discussed elsewhere--then what sort of victory is it?

If Costas cannot win a convention floor fight without being railroaded through by Mitch Daniels, then that does not speak well for his appeal as a candidate in November.