Kip, Too?
Throw another name into the ring of potential Democratic contenders for Mayor of Indianapolis. The latest addition I hear wanting to run against incumbent Greg Ballard in 2011 is lobbyist and former Democratic State Party Chairman Kip Tew. Tew was also a senior advisor for Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign in Indiana and was aide to former Mayor Bart Peterson.
So far, the list of Democrats possibly running for Mayor include former Deputy Mayor Melina Kennedy, Sheriff Frank Anderson, former 7th District congressional candidate Dr. Woody Meyers and former Indiana Secretary of State Joe Hogsett.
The conventional wisdom is that Democrats think Ballard will be easy to beat because of the County’s political tilt, however they privately begrudge the fact that the Mayor’s approval ratings are in the 60-70 percent range.
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:54 am
You need to write headlines for The Star. Very clever.
If Kip decides to run, he’d be a formidable candidate. A spread field like you describe, would gaurantee a heavy primary turnout.
But there’s lots of time between now and, say, spring 2010…which is when the campaign will start getting heavy. And there will be slating, which will get dicey.
One question: where would our new Congressperson land in this field? Would his support mean anything, and if so, to whom would it go, and could it make a difference? As the senior Dem officeholder in the city, it should make a huge difference.
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:14 am
The word on the street is that Evan Bayh would back Hogsett and Andre Carson is backing Melina.
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:41 am
lol @ Melina Kennedy. I can see her running for mayor. She ran such a successful campaign for prosecutor don’tcha remember? As far as Kip goes, should he get past the primaries, take a page from the obama (and also Karl Rove) stratagem: Link him back to peterson and ask everyone is that what they want. :^)
February 23rd, 2009 at 9:05 am
Dr. Meyers intrigues me as a candidate. Is there any reason NOT to think that he would have the fortitude and know how to do a good job? (I ask seriously…..)
February 23rd, 2009 at 9:23 am
There is lots of jockeying going on… The problem is that some folks would rather take a page out of the JLT/Shellinger playbook and blow-up the party than let calmer heads prevail.
Anyone looking for my vote in slating or the primary better tell me that being a Democrat is more important to them than being Mayor. For at least one of those named, I don’t think that’s true.
February 23rd, 2009 at 10:08 am
pp, you are my hero.
Abdul, your Bayh/Hogsett and Carson/Kennedy rumors are either brand-spanking new (as in, since last Thursday…), or just plain wrong.
Zapp: Dr. Myers (without the extra e) ran a decent Congressional campaign, but he’s got a pretty stiff residency issue to overcome with voters. His suitcase is always packed, and he earned millions being “Dr. No” for a health insurer. Or at least that’s how a smart opponent wuld paint him. Plus, as a doc and former health insurance exec, he’s a walking heart attack, which is, uh, confusing.
And anyone who wants to link anyone to Peterson is just whizzing Koolade. Almost one-quarter of the 2011 voters will never have voted in a Peterson campaign. That’s the legacy of Obama’s Marion County romp.
And most of the Chamber community wishes Bart were back.
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Anyone but Greg Ballard!
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Abdul? What was it that you warned if it happened, it would be a sure fire way to get a Libertarian mayor?
February 23rd, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Yeah, Ballard’s approval rate in the range of 60 to 70%. I’d like to see a recent poll that says that. Ballard is on the course to be easy pickens in 2011 and he’s going to drag down a lot of Republicans with him.
February 23rd, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Abdul, your poll number are way off! Also, whomever gave you the scoop on who Bayh and Carson support are just making things up. You can do much better than this!
February 23rd, 2009 at 2:39 pm
I just think Abdul’s poll numbers are dated. Ballard has had a horrible last 9 months. The view of him as a reformer who owns nobody anything for his election has long ago faded away.
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Paul, if Abdul’s numbers are so off base, why don’t you go present some evidence that contradicts them.
You are an attorney, right? Didn’t Ken Ackles fired you for being an idiot?
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:52 pm
If I were fired by Ken Ackles, I’d wear it like a badge of honor. Speaking of idiots….
February 23rd, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Greg Ballard is going to be tough to beat. Period!!! I’m so sick of hearing you crybabies bawl about Ballard, it’s really getting boring.
He picked Grand and company and so far it’s working. Public safety is improving and the issues with the CIB will work out. Greg Ballard is decades ahead of Peterson’s accomplishments in just a little over a year. Hell Peterson was so bad that there wasn’t room for him in Daddy’s company when he lost re-election.
Back off and let Ballard govern. If you want a job on the city payroll, apply for the job otherwise quit your bitchin. It’s getting old.
February 24th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Wow, Ernie…where to start?
Bart didn’t WANT to go back to his dad’s company, fulltime, after the election. It was the whole “been there done that” thing.
Grand & Co. haven’t done a horrible job, but we were promised better. I wished for good things from Ballard, and I’m not ready to pronounce him politiclaly dead just yet, but here are some cold hard political facts:
If you’re going to beat Democrats in this county nowadays, you’ve got to have a damned good, A-plus candidate, AND the Dems have to be fighting among themselves.
They could be fighting among themselves in 2011…who knows? But Ballard is a B candidate, at best.
Now, “B” is a good grade in most cases. He was an A-plus mayor for about a week, and then he started listening to the wrong folks.
(Fifty-one IMPD officers providing security to 4 junkyards owned by the same firm? Come on…how does that sound anything BUT fishy?)
Ballard wanted control of IMPD, and he got it. I think we’re all better off for it, regardless who the sheriff is/will be. Somewhere under that cesspool is the truth. The sooner he flushes it out, whatever the truth is, and broadcasts it to everyone, the better we’ll all be.
Last time I looked, and it has been awhile, there were +/-1050 sworn officers. Almost 5% of those officers providing security to a single firm? Didn’t anyone on Alabama St. ask a few questions?
Someone reading this can surely update the sworn officer number…I do not know if that included all sheriff’s officers or not, but I thought it did…
Regardless…51 officers is about 52 too many.
October 20th, 2009 at 6:45 am
[...] candidate for Mayor is out of the running. According to the Indianapolis Times blog, lobbyist Kip Tew has decided not to get into the race for Mayor in [...]