A new poll show a tighter race in the Democratic primary for the 7th Congressional District. The poll done by Global Strategy Group shows Andre Carson with 34 percent, followed by Dr. Woody Myers with 28 percent. State Rep. David Orentlicher has 13 percent and Carolene Mays , 7 percent. 18 percent of the voters are undecided.

The poll was done of 409 likely Democratic voters and has a plus or minus error of 4.9. That same poll taken in March showed Carson leading the pack with 45 percent and Orentlicher at 22 percent.

It will be interesting to see where the undecideds go and if they break for Myers who has had a very heavy television and radio presence.

It looks like we might have had a minor earthquake this morning.  It hit about 5:35 and lasted about 10-15 seconds.  The station here at 92nd and Meridian shook a little bit, but there was no damage.  I was in the car coming up Meridian and didn’t feel a thing.  I got a call from a friend whose family lives in Southern Indiana near the New Madrid fault and it was a lot stronger there.  Let me know if you felt anything this morning.

Update at 6:02 a.m. - Fox News is reporting it was a 5.4 earthquake  out of southeast Indiana and southwest IL.

The anti-smoking people are about to be at it again. They are holding a town hall meeting next week at the IUPUI campus. The point of the meeting is to point out the dangers of second hand smoke, but remember these are the same people who want to expand the anti-smoking ordinance to ALL bars, restaurants and private clubs in Marion County. Under the current rules smoking is only allowed in establishments that don’t allow minors. The meeting will be on the 24th. Stay tuned and smoke ‘em while you can.

Here’s some food for thought.  I’m running into more and more people who tell me that if Barack Obama becomes the Democratic nominee for President they will vote for him, but also vote for Mitch Daniels for Governor.  What do you make of it?

I’ve been making some calls about Barack Obama and Andre Carson’s endorsements of each other and the members of the political class I spoke with all seem to agree that the race is now Carson’s to lose.

Obama will likely win the the 7th District by a strong margin over Hillary Clinton and there was nothing in it for Carson to support Clinton.  If anything, he would have probably  lost votes to one of his other three main competitors.  By tying his name to Obama, Carson hopes to keep some of those voters (mainly the new ones) and get them to keep their ballot long enough to vote for him.  I argue this shows the race is probably a lot closer than anyone feels comfortable with.  Also, it will be interesting to see the impact on Dr. Woody Myers’ campaign, because he has been targeting new voters with his commercials.

A few other things to keep in mind, first if you are Jim Schellinger or Jill Long Thompson, you want those new voters to stick around and vote for you and not turn in their ballots after voting for the President or Congress.

Second, Karl Rove was in town yesterday for a fundraiser for Mike Sodrel.  He told the small crowd that Obama would be his candidate of choice, because Republicans could compete better against him in places like Pennsylvania and Ohio. Be careful what you wish for.

And this 7th Congressional District candidate would be happy to get any attention.

I’m hearing 7th District Congressman and candidate Andre Carson may endorse Barack Obama today. Carson has been on the fence for a few months every time I asked him. Carson is also a super delegate.

A formal endorsement would also signal a tight race in the 7th and by supporting Obama, Carson would be endearing himself to the 7th District Democratic voters where polls show Obama is winning overwhelmingly against Hillary Clinton.

A new poll out by the LA Times and Bloomberg found Barack Obama ahead of Hillary Clinton by 5 points here in the Hoosier state. The poll surveyed 691 likely voters. However it was done right as the latest Obama controversy was taking shape. Obama leads 40-35 with 19 percent undecided, so the dynamics could still change according to the poll. The poll also shows Clinton’s Pennsylvania lead narrowing to 5 points and Obama ahead by 13 in North Carolina.

Two measures were introduced at last night’s City-County Council meeting; one would reduce the Public Safety Tax by 0.5 percent.  Sponsor Vernon Brown says part of the tax was increased to cover the pre-1977 police pension debt, but since the state has now picked up that burden, Brown says the money should be returned to the taxpayers.  Mayor Greg Ballard says he wants to repeal the entire tax increase, however he wants to do it as part of government reform and overhaul. 

I always said the tax increase was a bad idea at the time because Hoosiers were facing massive increases in their property taxes.  In the wake of events at the Legislature, I would rather keep the tax in place and use it to ease the burden on property taxpayers officials continue to look for ways to cut spending and find efficiencies.

The second proposal (actually there are two versions pending before the Council) would alter the city personnel code and the Mayor to name a fire chief from outside the Indianapolis Fire Department.  Currently the chief must come from within IFD.  The Mayor wants to change the rule and do a nationwide search.  The fire fighters union is very skeptical of the plan, saying the best candidates for chief would come from withing the department because they would understand the culture of IFD.  My thought, the best person should be hired for the job, regardless of where they are from.

Say what you will about Barack Obama, but I don’t think you want to use the term “boy” anywhere near his name.

Someone recently asked me what I thought when politicians misspeak? I said “not much.” It happens all the time. Whether it’s Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or John McCain. I expect them to make misstatements. It happens when you talk a lot and live in the age of YouTube and camera phones.

The trick is what you do afterwards.

You can try to clarify them like Barack has done with “clinging” comment or McCain with his “in Iraq for 100 years” comments. Or you can keep repeating the misstatement as Hillary did with her trip to Bosnia.

Fundamentally, I don’t think they change too much of anything. What you take from these comments is pretty much what you bring to them. If you like the candidate, nothing changes. If you don’t like them, nothing changes. If you really want to know what someone thinks, look at what they write. That is a lot more telling than what they say.