Mitch and Jill

Indianapolis architect Jim Schellinger must feel like an idiot. He got in early for the race against Gov. Mitch Daniels, spent a lot of time and raised a lot of money, and he's dead last in the hearts of Democrats:

A new WISH-TV (Channel 8 Indianapolis) poll released today shows former Congresswoman and Under Secretary of Agriculture Jill Long Thompson running strong statewide in her campaign for Governor.  Long Thompson said the poll shows her message of new leadership and change is hitting a responsive chord with Hoosiers.

The independent poll (http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7099910), which surveyed 800 Hoosiers from September 10 through September 14, found Long Thompson in the strongest position to defeat Governor Mitch Daniels in 2008.

According to the poll, 41 percent of Democratic primary voters polled indicated support for Long Thompson, 16 percent favored State Senator Richard Young, Jr. while 10 percent chose Indianapolis architect Jim Schellinger.

In a match-up with Governor Mitch Daniels, the poll found that Long Thompson, who launched her campaign just 10 weeks ago, was within eight percentage points (Daniels 46, Long Thompson 38).  Most alarmingly for Daniels is that only 39 percent of Hoosiers say that he deserves to be re-elected.

I don't know how in the world to read those numbers. Only 39 percent of Hoosiers think Daniels deserves to be re-elected, bu he wins 46-38 against Long Thompson? Maybe that's good news for Mitch. Even some people who think he doesn't deserve re-election prefer him to his likely Democrat opponent.