Paula Hughes was a lot more popular than Liz Brown among the city’s Republican voters last week – but only slightly more acclaimed in her neighborhood.
Hughes and Brown literally live next to each other on Reed Road, putting them both in Precinct 218. Citywide, Hughes captured 56 percent of the vote in a primary with five names on the ballot for mayor, including three real contenders. Brown won 25 percent and Eric Doden, 18 percent.
Hughes was also the top vote-getter in Precinct 218 – but by a smaller margin. Her 80 votes was 43 percent of the precinct’s total, while Brown ended up with 72 votes (39 percent) and Doden received 31 votes (17 percent).
Democratic loss
Democrats are at a loss to explain how Tommy Schrader bested George Guido to win a city council at-large nomination. Schrader did not campaign – and anyone trying to contact him had no luck with his phone number and address on file with the Allen County Election board.
With five Democrats running, it’s likely that many voters knew the name of incumbent John Shoaff (who finished first), while at least some knew of Gordon Anthony (second-place finisher), a former president of the firefighters union. But faced with choosing among three relative unknowns – Schrader, Guido and 19-year-old Nick Tash – the plurality of Democrats selected Schrader for the third at-large slot.
Was it because his name has been on the ballot before? He’s run a number of times for different offices, never doing well. Did many of the 2,321 Democrats who voted for Schrader confuse him with Tommy Schoegler, the well-known sports broadcaster at Indiana’s NewsCenter?
In any event, unless Democrats replace him on the ballot (some reports say Schrader no longer lives in the city, which would make him ineligible), this will mark the second consecutive election in which Democrats have allowed an embarrassingly bad representative of the party to win a primary and carry the party’s label into November. (Perennial candidate David Roach was the only Democrat to file for sheriff in 2010 and was, by default, the party’s nominee for the important office.)
Perhaps the saddest element of the Schrader nomination is that Guido was a knowledgeable and promising candidate for council at large.
GOP loss?
The prospect of the right-wing state treasurer knocking off Richard Lugar – one of the most widely respected members of the Senate – in next spring’s primary took on a new dimension when a credible, competitive Democrat announced for the seat: U.S. Rep Joe Donnelly. Lugar would likely easily beat Donnelly, but Democrats have a much better chance in a Donnelly-Richard Mourdock race.
Conservative opponents of Lugar argue the senator has continually moved to the left during his long tenure in the Senate, but that’s really not the case. Lugar has been consistent on issues during a time when the nation has been moving to the right.
