A poll by the Fort Wayne News Sentinel shows incumbent Republican Mark Souder leading challenger Tom Hayhurst 52% to 40%. There aren’t any polls to use as comparisons of trends in the race, but it seems to confirm that Hayhurst is running a good campaign but his chances of winning in this heavily Republican district are a long shot. By way of comparison, Souder took 69% of the vote two years ago.

Apropos of not very much, does anyone else ever have those days when you get more done the less you try? I walked to and from the court house to attend an inconsequential hearing and, in the process, got work done on about 5 other cases simply by happening across other attorneys. Oh, and I ran into a law school classmate I haven’t seen in 10 years.

Got more done in 20 minutes than I had during the past 6 hours of the day.

Looks like the hosting company I use for Masson’s Blog had a pretty bad server failure. So, that’s why I was down for the last day or so, and it looks like I lost the posts for the past week. But, we’re back up at the moment at least.

(H/t Taking Down Words) Democratic candidate to represent Indiana’s Third District, Dr. Tom Hayhurst has  made the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “Emerging Races” list. The list consists of about 25 Democratic candidates “who have taken traditionally non-competitive districts and, through the strength of their campaigns, put themselves in a position to win in November.” The DCCC’s entry on Dr. Hayhurst is here.

Maureen Groppe has a story in the Indianapolis Star that mentions that the national Republican party has seen a need to fund Mark Souder’s campaign against Hayhurst. According to Ms. Groppe’s report:

The party could be worried about the fact that Hayhurst is outspending Souder. Hayhurst, a first-time congressional candidate and member of the Fort Wayne City Council, reported spending $320,000 on advertising. Souder reported spending about $60,000.

Another Star report that gives the breakdown of money raised, spent, and in the bank, summarizes IN-03 as follows:

3rd District
• Rep. Mark Souder, R-Fort Wayne: $299,193 raised; $222,712 spent; $111,365 in the bank as of Sept. 30.
• Democrat Thomas Hayhurst, Fort Wayne: $592,494 raised; $500,932 spent; $91,562 in the bank as of Sept. 30.

Kim Jong Il has apparently tested a nuclear weapon in North Korea. With our resources sunk into Iraq and our international influence squandered, we’re left in the position of relying on China to do the right thing and try to handle its crazy neighbor. That’s not a great position for us to be in.

Thanks to Jason for pointing out this Wired News story comparing the relative risks faced by Americans.

S E V E R E Driving off the road: 254,419 Falling: 146,542 Accidental poisoning: 140,327

H I G H Dying from work: 59,730 Walking down the street: 52,000. Accidentally drowning: 38,302

E L E V A T E D Killed by the flu: 19,415 Dying from a hernia: 16,742

G U A R D E D Accidental firing of a gun: 8,536 Electrocution: 5,171

L O W Being shot by law enforcement: 3,949 Terrorism: 3147 Carbon monoxide in products: 1,554

So, I e-mail a buddy of mine this Doghouse Riley post about the recent troubles of Henry Lee Summers. The post shows a picture of Henry Lee looking pretty rough and discusses Henry Lee’s recent arrest for “DUI in a Southside trailer park after he careened through the park, bouncing off cars, trucks, and at least one home, elbowed a Sheriff’s deputy in the head, and was Tasered.” My buddy responds:

Oh, Henry Lee. Pretty generic, but he did have a couple of good rockers in a period noted for its bad music. Having lived in Bloomington for seven years, I did have
occasion to see him free (he would play parties, festivals, Little 500, etc), and he tried hard to entertain, anyway. I also used to go to Broad Ripple during my Indy days, and there would occasionally be a pretty decent cover band with a dumb name like the Lizards, or the Crocodiles, or some such thing. Anyway, he was their drummer, oddly enough. Anyway…

In fairness to Henry Lee–if you’re in Indy long enough, you will eventually be at some point in a trailer park on the south side. And the only way to deal with that is to stay in your car, and be drunk.

Just thought I’d share that pearl of wisdom.

Dr. Eric Schansberg, Libertarian candidate for the 9th Congressional District, issued a press release accusing incumbent Mike Sodrel of reneging on a debate promise.

[Schansberg] criticized Representative Mike Sodrel for back-tracking on his earlier commitment to debate Schansberg and Baron Hill in New Albany on October 1st. Sodrel’s camp has offered the excuse that Congress might be in session on that day. But the likelihood of congressional activity on a Sunday—especially on the evening of Yom Kippur—seems quite remote. . . . Schansberg said, “After the first debate, I can certainly see why Sodrel would want to avoid as many debates as possible. But it’s a shame that he’s not communicating with the other candidates, ignoring a reasonable debate proposal, and breaking his word. His excuse doesn’t hold any water—and even if it did, it shows an inability to do long-term planning.”

Jack Colwell has a good column in the South Bend Tribune on Indiana’s Second Congressional race where he debunks the notion that Chocola is struggling in his race against Joe Donnelly because he was blindsided or took his re-election for granted. That’s apparently the “common wisdom” developing among the Beltway commentariat. Colwell points out that Chocola was raising money early, has put out television ads early, and has seemed perfectly well aware that he would have trouble because, among other things, he is strongly associated with an unpopular Governor, an unpopular President, and an unpopular Republican Congress in a Congressional District that isn’t nearly as Republican as everybody seems to think.

If Chocola gets beat, it won’t be because he let a sure thing slip away through hubris or inattentiveness. Rather, it will be because he tried as hard as he could, and the citizens of the District still didn’t want him to represent them.

In case anyone was wondering, the utter lack of posts have been due to my vacation to Muskegon, Michigan. Nice beach. The weather was pretty bad earlier in the week — nothing but rain for a couple of days. Yesterday and today have been pretty good. The kids have really enjoyed themselves. This morning, I did little besides build a sand citadel. Absolutely pointless work. I had a great time. The kids kept knocking down my towers as fast as I could build them. Hopefully I’ll have some good pictures to post later on.