the Indiana Primary

Just like my fellow Hoosiers Doug and Vic, I did my civic duty and voted. I arrived at our voting center, the local elementary school, just before 10:00. There were about 20 cars parked outside the gymnasium door. Several signs for local candidates lined the grass along the pavement, but none were for Clinton or Obama. Two women and a man, perched like vultures just outside the gymnasium, asked me to vote for them for the local school board. I didn't tell them that I didn't really care whether they won or not, because my daughter goes to a private school. No need to be rude on such a fine morning.

'Twas no queue to delay me. I walked quickly to the table where two schoolmarm-ish ladies demanded proof of my identity. Naturally, I showed them my driver's license. They seemed adequately pleased, and I was given a ballot. I walked over to one of five small lecterns and made my choices. I had forgotten the people who wanted my vote for school council, so I did what I always do when I vote for categories I don't really care about: I pick whatever name sounds "the coolest."

how many Indianas are there?

John Edwards says there are two Americas, but he's got nothing on Monica Davey, who says there are three or four or possibly more Indianas.

who does John Mellencamp want to be the Democratic nominee?

I live in Indiana, so quite obviously, I must listen to John Mellencamp and be obsessed about him and what he is doing and thinking and feeling. He is playing at an Obama rally in Evansville this evening, where the junior senator from Illinois gave a Pennsylvania concession speech (which didn't really sound like a concession to anything). Brian Williams has said on MSNBC that Mellencamp is going to play at a Clinton rally sometime in the future.

Is John confused? Why is he peforming for both? What is he thinking? How will he vote? Perhaps John, just like the Pennsylvania voters, wants this race to go on and on.

Did Julia really want her "seed" to take her seat in Congress?

Ah, family. There's nothing like leaning on your family name to get you places you otherwise wouldn't have gone. If Andre Carson had any other last name - and any other grandmother - he wouldn't have made as many steps to the U.S. Congress as he recently has. Several eulogists at Carson's funeral reported her saying that the constituants who loved her should "send [her] seed," supposedly meaning her grandson Andre. Julia Carson's name, and a bit of confusion, helped Andre Carson win last Satuday's special caucus. Bil Browning has more.

"My doctor discovered lung cancer."

Julia Carson, one of the nine Hoosiers in the U.S. House of Representatives, issued a written statement to the Indianapolis Star yesterday afternoon.

In the late summer of 2007, Congress granted me a leave of absence because of my leg infection. My wonderful doctor cured the leg, and I went into rehabilitation, planning to be back in Washington shortly.

Then the second shoe fell -- heavily. My doctor discovered lung cancer. It had gone into remission years before, but it was back with a terminal vengeance.

Therefore, I take this occasion to express my loving and literally eternal gratitude to my friends, including family, constituents and colleagues, who have given me so much love, support and trust. God bless our beloved country.

My prayers are certainly with Rep. Carson and her family at this time. She has certainly lived a rags-to-riches kind of life - read this by Matt Tully.

Update: Carson has said she will not run next year.

Julia Carson's health

Once again, the health of Representative Julia Carson (D-IN-7) is a factor in her (in)ability to perform her duties on the Congressional floor.

Rep. Julia Carson, who has been on a leave of absence to recover from a leg infection, will not return to Washington in time for a Thursday vote on whether to override President Bush’s veto of a children’s health insurance program, according to her office.

“I understand how an athlete feels when they sit one out to recover from an injury,” Carson said in a statement Monday. “The minutes move slowly, and you want nothing more than to be in for the big game. But you need to get well for the rest of the season.”

The 69-year-old Indianapolis Democrat, who has not voted in the House since Sept. 29, had requested a leave until Oct. 15.In the statement released by her office, Carson said she “may be absent from votes a short time longer” on her doctor’s advice.

Although there had been much speculation that the current Congressional session would be her last (mostly by state Republicans), Carson has made it clear that she intends to run again in 2008. I think her advisors would do well in taking her health into serious consideration. She has done much more than just "sit one out" in the past. Hopefully she will be able to fully recover and do her job for this session. I also hope that she seriously considers whether she'll be able to do an affective job through January 2011, should she be re-elected next year.

[Disclosure: I have been a registered Democrat since 1999. I had not lived in Carson's district until I moved to Beech Grove last year. I did not register in time to vote in the November 2006 elections.]