Polis Politics Post-Mortem on the GOP AG Nomination

Monday, nearly 2000 Hoosier Republicans gathered here in Indianapolis, and a fair majority chose Deputy Attorney General Greg Zoeller as the nominee for Attorney General. Congrats to him.

Hoosier Access and the Hoosierpundit, both of whom backed Mr. Zoeller, have a mostly objective analysis of how the votes fell.

Why did they fall the way they did? Two main factors: familiarity and delivering votes (making an endorsement mean something).

Familiarity
Roaming the Convention Center Monday, we heard pretty much the same complaint about both Jon Costas and Greg Zoeller: they were both too much of establishment candidates. Mr. Zoeller was considered a bureaucrat while Mr. Costas was pushed by the Governor. Greg Zoeller was the more known entity, having been on the 2007 Lincoln Day circuit and a recognizable member of the Quayle regime, Mr. Costas was the newcomer in this race, and his late start in campaigning certainly did not help. Mr. Zoeller had participated in a Convention race for AG before; Mr. Costas had not. With all things being equal, more delegates were more comfortable backing someone they knew in Mr. Zoeller than a new entity backed by the Governor.

Delivering Votes
The most maligned person in this entire AG race was Marion County GOP Chairman Tom John. Funny thing is, talking to a variety of folks in Marion County Monday, it seems clear that the strong-arming charges that were made daily against the folks in Marion County were trumped up to say the least. The majority of elected delegates in Marion County went for Zoeller, and none we have heard were ever threatened as elected delegates to vote a certain way. The County's appointed delegates were selected to back their endorsed candidate, Mr. Costas. Some called that "strong-arming"; we call it making your endorsement mean something. And no one is obviously going to threaten someone they already know is going to vote with them.

It seems, though, very few Indiana political entities, whether counties, cities, or congressional districts who endorsed Mr. Costas delivered their votes. Whether it was that they were lukewarm to Mr. Costas or afraid to be unfairly dragged through the mud of the blogosphere like Mr. John, many of these people who endorsed Mr. Costas gave their delegates speeches akin to, "I like this guy, but vote how you want." At the end of they day they will be well liked by those who disagreed with them, but it didn't help Mr. Costas get the votes from the places that endorsed him.

Summary
The morning of the convention, both Greg Zoeller and Jon Costas felt they had the delegates to win, and if they voted they way they were told, they would win. Mr. Zoeller obviously had the better handle on his numbers. He should be commended on his winning race, and now is the healing process will begin. Regardless of who won, there were those unhappy with how both candidates entered this race, how their campaigns were ran, and the "trail of tears" left behind.

Congrats to Greg Zoeller. Let all of us Hoosier Republicans work for a GOP Victory this November.