Hoosier lore

Now this is chutzpah:

CARMEL, Ind. -- Sponsors of a proposal to provide City Council members up to $18,000 in city-funded health benefits are withdrawing the ordinance after hearing strong public outcry against it this week.

[. . .]

From what I heard, this really didn't happen all that much, for all the bluster about how serious Democrats were going to be about it:

Voters in some polling sites are being challenged when asking for ballots, based on whether they're switching parties from previous elections.

Secretary of State Todd Rokita says in Indiana's open primary, you can be challenged, but you still have whatever ballot you want. Those who get challenged should be offered a form to sign and then handed the ballot requested.

Curse those diabolical Republican legislators! They passed that voter ID law to keep minorities and old folks from voting for Democrats the way God intended them to. And just look at what happened:

More than 1.6 million votes were cast Tuesday in the Democratic and GOP presidential races with nearly all precincts reporting, according to unofficial tallies by The Associated Press. That smashed the 1992 primary turnout of a little more than 1 million votes.

A tribute to Hillary Clinton, who just won't quit.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=9RZ-hYPAMFQ]

Former News-Sentinel columnist Nancy Nall Derringer gets a nice Washington Post byline. With a little help from former Mayor Paul Helmke, she takes a run at defining Indiana's brand of conservatism:

With all the talk about "the primary that finally matters," I was expecting a big crowd at my polling place. But when I stopped by to vote just before 8, it wasn't that busy. There was a steady trickle of people, but no lines. And my polling place is one of those bundled three-precinct sites. I do hope we hit 50 percent turnout. If we don't hit it for this election, with all the publicity it's gotten, we're not likely to ever again.

Those darn Catholics, refusing to stay in their herd where they belong:

There is no one such thing as a Catholic voter," said Cathleen Kaveny, a professor of law and theology at Notre Dame, who attended the event in South Bend and is a member of Obama's national steering committee of Catholic advisers.

Oh, well. Easy come, easy go:

It's been fun for all of us news and political junkies to see Indiana so involved in this year's primary because it may be another 40 years before it happens again (unless, of course, we move toward a rotating, regional primary — a move we would support).

Sadly, though, by Wednesday, the Obama and Clinton folks will be gone and it's unlikely they will return to Indiana with such a strong presence by the November election.

What a waste. While going to Ball State, I spent all that time near Muncie and never made it to "only regitered jar museum in the world," and now it's going away:

MUNCIE — Philip Robinson sat in his living room, his face appearing very tired although it was still morning.

We all know people who  think they're invisible in their cars -- hey, watch where' you're putting that finger, pal, that's disgusting. Apparently, some kids think the same rule applies for buses: