Indiana Secretary of State (“SoS”), established by Indiana’s Constitution, Art. 6, § 1, will be on the ballot in November. An office few notice, the % of votes a party’s candidate receives for SoS determines if the party must hold a primary. I.C. 3-10-1-2. That’s free publicity. 1/5

% of votes also can make a party one of the 2 “major” political parties in Indiana. SoS is State’s chief elections officer. I.C. 3-6-3.7-1. The SoS can be pivotal. Pennsylvania’s GOP nominee for Gov, Doug…

Media are silent about waves of violent crime at polling sites in the 2020 elections. A candidate for Michigan state Senate said ppl should “Show up armed” on election day to stop a recurrence of 2020. (Detroit Free Press, 1/31/22.) What happened in 2022? The GOP lost. 1/6

No credible evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 elections, in Indiana or anywhere, exists. If fraud occurred, people at polling sites w/guns wearing MAGA caps are meant only to intimidate voters likely to vote…

  Of 435 voting seats in the United States House of Representatives—all up for election this year, as members of the House run on a two-year cycle (U.S. Constitution, Art. I, Sec. 2—246 are held by members of the Republican Party and 188 by members of the Democratic Party, with one (1) seat currently vacant.  The Democratic Party needs to win thirty (30) seats to gain control of that chamber.  According to the website 270towin, 56 seats are “competitive.  Of those, 38, by my count, are held…

   There was an 8-track comedy tape in the 1970s (of course the 1970s; that was the abbreviated time of 8-track tapes) called “A Truck Stop Is the Best Place to Eat.” Most of the material on the tape was offensive, but one item was expressive of a truth. One joke on the redneck (questionable) humor-filled tape involved “Big Moe” who was a visitor in a town and was on a quest for sexual gratification. He said to and asked a bartender: “I’m Big Moe. Where can Big Moe get f****d?” (There were…

   Whatever office you seek in Indiana and whatever party---or none---of which you are a member, you are invited to be on "Civil Discourse Now." Please contact me at marksmall2001 at yahoo dot com.

   Tune in from 11 am to 1 pm as we will have Congressional candidate Allen Davidson, Marion County judicial candidate David Hennessy, Lawyer Bill Groth who argued the Indiana Voter ID law to the United States Supreme Court, Kimann Schultz with "Fashion and Style," and---the inaugural episode of the satirical radio satire "Tale of the City"! Streamed from the Cabin Fever Weekend at Clarion Convention Center, just west of I-465 and just off Crawfordsville Road!

  Clarion Waterfront Hotel is on the west side of Indianapolis on Crawfordsville Road, just west of I-465 at 2930 West Waterfront Parkway. We stream live from 11 am to 1 pm on Indiana Talks dot com. A focal topic for The Show  will be legislative efforts to restrict voting rights.

   Our guest panelists include: Bill Groth, who litigated the Indiana "Voter ID" law before the United States Supreme Court; and a representative from the Marion County Clerk's Office, the office responsible…

   The primary elections of the two major political parties, as "major" political parties are defined by Indiana Code, will occur on Tuesday, May 6, 2014. Civil Discourse Now was started in the interest of fun and enlightenment. With primary elections---plural because more than one office is in play and more than one party is holding a primary---a few weeks away, it is important for voters to know the candidates from whom they can choose. If you are a candidate for an office in the May 6…

   Some Republicans have stated their party received a "mandate" from the voters in the November 6 election because the Republicans retained control of the United States House of Representatives. "Mandate," in this context, is defined as "the instruction as to policy given or supposed to be given by the electors to a legislative body or to one or more of its members."  The American College Dictionary, 1962 ed.

   As I wrote last week, Indiana’s delegation in U.S. House is a…

   People purport to hate negative political ads on TV.  By "negative ads" I mean ads aimed mainly at trashing one candidate.  Polls that I have read consistently indicate over 60 percent (60%) of respondents do not like negative ads. Yet research and personal observation indicate negative political ads "work." They motivate some people to move, not so much "for" one candidate, but "against" the candidate at whom the ad is aimed (thereby helping the candidate in whose interest the ad was…