So here are my questions regarding tonight’s gubernatorial debate.

1. Who won?
2. Who lost?
3. Who changed the dynamics of the race?
4. Who watched?
5. Who cares?

Lawrence Township Trustee Mike Hobbs wants to privatize the township’s small claims courts.

At the Lawrence Township Trustee’s office, we’ve carefully studied our options and evaluated various means to lower the cost of our services and make our level of government less affected by the whims of the governor.  This study lead us to a simple solution; auction the rights to operate the small claims court.  Private small claims courts have a long history.  In 16th and 17th century England, skilled magistrates were paid by private individuals to settle disputes.  Fairness and knowledge were rewarded by higher rates paid by the parties.  The market created a better court system.

At present, the small court is a bloated government entity in which elected officials get rich by servings evictions and other courts orders.  So far in 2008, the Lawrence Township Constable has made well over $200,000 by serving orders.  With a more efficient court model and better staff, the small claims court could be a profitable enterprise for a private firm.  The Lawrence Township Trustee believes that this model will change the small claims court from a burden on taxpayers to tax relief.

Now if only we could only privatize the rest of township government.

A poll taken by Riggs Research of Indianapolis for  “The Dave Crooks Show; Indiana’s Weekly Political Talk Show” in Southern Indiana of voters is revealing some interesting results.  Although the poll represents voters in Daviess and Knox County,  it’s a nice glance at a microcosm of the electorate.

The poll surveyed 303 likely voters and has a margin of error of about 5 percent.

Here are the results…

Who will you vote for President?

• John McCain – 38%.
• Barack Obama – 28%.
• Undecided – 35%.

As we all freak out over the government takeover of some areas of the nation’s financial sector it’s important to remember that we have been down this road before and it is nothing new. In the 1930s, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation made $3 billion in loans ($400 – $500 billion in today’s dollars) to distressed banks and bought stock in 6,000 banks.   Here’s a quick rundown courtesy of the International Herald Tribune…

• 1917 – The government seizes the nation’s railroads to make sure troops and supplies can move uninterrupted during World War I.
• 1939-1945 – The government seized a number of companies, including railroads, coal mines and even the Montgomery Wards store chain for a brief time, in an attempt to aid the war effort.
• 1952 – Harry Truman temporarily seizes 88 steel mills across the country to avoid a national strike during the Korean War.  That action was later ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.
• 1984 – The U.S. Government took an 80 percent stake in Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust. Because Continental Illinois was one of nation’s top 10 banks, it was deemed “too big to fail” by federal regulators.

Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin will be at the Verizon Center on Friday.  The doors open at 3 and Palin is  expected to speak at 4:30 p.m.  It’s a ticketed event so you will have to go to the campaign’s website for tickets.  It’s a first come first serve basis.  GOP sources say they had been looking for a venue that could seat at least 21,000 to compete with the Obama crowd that was at the Fairgrounds last week.  Verizon seats 24,000.

10/14/08 PM UPDATE: 
Line for Sarah Palin Tickets at the Hamilton County Republican Headquarters in Fishers, IN – taken at 5:45 PM – Admin 

There are two main referendum questions on the ballot for voters in Marion County.  They basically are as follows…

1. Should the assessing functions of the elected township assessor in the township be transferred to the county assessor?
2. Should IPS float $278,000,000 in bonds for capital improvements for its schools?

Here’s another episode of the Capital Watch, courtesy of RTV 6. Enjoy.

This is another one of those mornings where there is no real big news, but lots of little interesting tidbits.

Get The Puck Out

• It looks like V.P. nominee Sarah Palin is coming to town next Friday.  Hopefully she will get better treatment than last night’s hockey game in Philadelphia.

(Apologies to Chris Spangle)

There has been a lot of blog chatter lately over the number of registered voters in Marion County.  Blogger Paul Ogden writes about how the number of registered voters is greater than the number of eligible voters. There are 679,745 registered voters in Marion County, although the population over 18 is 644,197.  

Ogden, and those of like minds, infer there is something sinister going on here.  

Sorry guys, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

The number of active registered voters is 561,234 voters.  There are 118,415 inactive voters.  Those are people who moved, died, or haven’t voted in at least one General election.

That’s it folks.  No conspiracy.

Now if these guys wanted to blog about purging the voter rolls that’s a different story.  According to the Secretary of State’s Office there are 91,000 people who should be purged and Marion County Voter Registration says there are about 46,000 voters who will likely be purged after the next election.

There is some dispute over why these names are still on the poll books.

Demcorats say the process has to be done carefully so voters are not disenfranchised.  Republicans say Democrats did not want to spend the money to clean the voter rolls.

Both sides admit though it the extra 118,000 names costs the taxpayers money because of ballot printing.

So if any you folks are looking for some ACORN conspiracy here, there is none.  

It’s just Marion County being Marion County.

That’s not ACORN, that’s just nuts.

A word of advice to my Indiana GOP friends, you are going to have your work cut out for you in November. Fresh off his debate in Tennessee Democrat Barack Obama hit the Indiana State Fairgrounds and about 21,000 supporters.

His speech was pretty much standard with a couple new lines.  He said he could take four more weeks of attacks by John McCain but America couldn’t take four more years of Bush policies.  Obama also criticized opponents of government-involved health care, saying the people who usually complain about government health care are getting their health care from the government.

The crowd was electrified and extremely enthusaiastic for the candidate, of course the question is will that enthusaism last until Novemeber 4th.  The crowd was encouraged to not wait until Election Day to vote but to vote as soon as possible.   

The polls show Obama trailing McCain 2-5 points, but former State Democratic Chairman Robin Winston said polls would show Julia Carson running either tied or behind in her races and she pull off victories.  

Jill Long Thompson, Democratic candidate for Governor, also took a shot at Governor Daniels.  Saying his economic policies, along with John McCain and George W. Bush were right out The Three Stooges.   JLT is hoping to ride the Obama coattails to victory, but says she can win Indiana even if  Obama loses.

There was bit of excitement during the Obama address.  A man had to be escorted from the crowd after shouting “stop the New World Order.”

The fact that 21,000 people came out on a rainy Wednesday afternoon to see a Democratic Presidential candidate in Indiana clearly shows this state is in play and on Election night, we may not know for a while who Hoosiers decide to pick for President.