i'd heard the rumors, ever since ipopa first floated them, but never thought it would be true. yet it is: jon elrod is dropping out of the congressional race for indiana's 7th district and retreating back to the seat in the indiana house that he had abandoned.
state law forbids candidates from simultaneously running for state and federal office, so elrod had chosen to give up his indiana seat for a shot at the big time. carolene mays and david orentlicher made the same gamble in the democratic primary and lost. but no other republican had chosen to run for indiana house 97, elrod's old/current seat, leaving a vacancy on the ballot for him to slip back into.
however, the voters of his district will surely remember his opportunism, come november. they'll think, "jon elrod doesn't care about representing our district. this is just a stepping stone to him. he's only here because he knew he couldn't defeat andré carson." and they'll be correct.
there's no undo button in politics. you can't just reload an old saved game if you make a poor decision. he might've had a good chance of reelection if he'd simply stayed put. now, i suspect his chances aren't as good.
this been a hell of a week for republican congressional candidates. first word gets out about eric dickerson's bankruptcy, and now this. and unlike the dickerson story, this one will be a lot harder for republicans to ignore.
now, locals republicans need to find another sucker to run against carson... and they don't have much time. ¶
Steph Mineart, at
6:54 PM, June 18, 2008
