Potential Democrat challengers to the 2011 Mayor race? GOP response: lol

This morning's Indianapolis Star details some of the confirmed and speculated Democratic candidates for Mayor of Indianapolis in 2011. While only a few are confirmed, they are all at least well known names, most having held elected positions before or, in the case of my city-council representative, currently do. It's not unusual for a primary race to have many candidates, or at least those interested, early on. Primary elections help decide what that party is going to run on, what the public cares about, and who is best at representing those issues. Even candidates with no realistic chance, such as Mike Huckabee or Ron Paul in the Republican primaries for the 2008 POTUS election, arguably had a long lasting affect on McCain's campaign and the positions he took.

But now, I guess having a few candidates is a bad thing. Tom John, the Marion County Republican Chairman, likens them to "a bunch of clowns" and "a joke." John seems to think this administration is nearly untouchable. Of course, you'd have to:

• ignore the tax increases he supported (and the ones he did support but wasn't able to pass)
• the "balanced budget" which is balanced by Peterson-era tax increases being made permanent and more money from the feds
• infringing the rights of gun owners
• and generally just doing everything what previous administrations

This isn't to say that Ballard is vulnerable. Any single one of these issues could occur in a mayor's administration and the public could ignore it. But this is all in the first two years. Ballard's still got two years of country club politics to go, to cut backroom deals, raise taxes, and give out corporate welfare, and he'll be VERY vulnerable to eager candidates from both major parties.