As I wrote yesterday, the race for the Fifth Congressional District, where Dan Burton, a Republican, has held office since 1983, was re-configured. On January 31, he announced his retirement. That was rather a last-minute thing. Candidates’ signature filing deadline—by which a candidate had to have her/his application into the office of the Indiana Secretary of State along with 500 (I believe is the number) signatures in support—was February 24. The election boards have a nasty habit of tossing out signatures for both valid and capricious reasons. It is best to have as many signatures in support of one’s candidacy as possible. Then there are all the tings like organizing staff, setting up a website, planning appearances, and—almost forgot this—raising money and hiring an accountant who knows when and how to file the campaign finance reports. I think Congressman Burton, who has not been popular with his party’s hierarchy since he first announced his candidacy in 1982, tried to send a message of his own, after his party re-configured his District to make it tough for him to win the primary.

   All eyes have been and continue to be on the Republican primary, with its eight (8) candidates. One even came in from D.C. (David McIntosh), giving up a lucrative career as a lobbyist to run for Congress in what once was his home State.

   No one has paid a lot of attention to the Democratic candidates. Scott Reske has served as a member of the Indiana House of Representatives since his election in 2000. He is a Purdue graduate, a consulting engineer, and a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps reserves. Tony Long is retired as an auto worker from what was called Delco (when I lived in Howard County) and lives in Kokomo. He served as a member of his union’s collective bargaining committee and went on to serve the UAW International Union as an International Representative.

   On Saturday’s Show our guests will be Tony Long and Lisa Carter, campaign manager for Scott Reske.

   The Republicans’ gerrymandering of the Fifth and their pitched battle—tons of cash poured into the campaigns and celebrity endorsements, the former and the latter from outside of Indiana—have provided interesting footage for the news and the internet. The actual election occurs in November, however. We thought it wold be interesting to get the views from the Democratic side of the primary. We will talk about how the District has changed. We also will listen to stands on basic issues from the campaigns.

   Join us on Saturday morning at 11—we now stream "live"—as we discuss what could be one of the more interesting Congressional campaigns, in the State and possibly the country, this November. We shoot at Big Hat Books, 6510 Cornell Avenue in Broad Ripple.