According to NBC’s First Read, Larry Bucshon and his campaign to be the next congressman from Indiana’s 8th district is one step closer to becoming reality.

*** First Read’s Field of 64: This is a slight change to our normal Friday Top 10 list, but today we’re listing what we consider the 64 House seats most likely to switch parties in the fall. (No. 1, for instance, is the seat we consider most likely to flip.) For Republicans to take back the House, they need to pick up a NET of 39 seats. (So if Democrats are able to win three or four GOP seats, as they’re hoping to do, then Republicans must win 42 or 43 Democratic seats.) Political journalists and junkies — clip and save this list, because it gives you a good idea of where the House battlefield is and whether or not Republicans can reach a net of 39 seats on Election Night. There are 55 Democratic-held seats on this list, and nine GOP-held ones.

On the top ten list of those most likely to switch…….Indiana 8

1. TN-6 (D-Open-Gordon retiring)
2. LA-3 (D-Open-Melancon running for Senate)
3. LA-2 (R-Cao)
4. DE-AL (R-Open-Castle running for Senate)
5. AR-2 (D-Open-Snyder retiring)
6. NY-29 (D-Open-Massa retired)
7. NM-2 (D-Teague)
8. OH-1 (D-Driehaus)
9. IN-8 (D-Open-Ellsworth running for Senate)
10. MD-1 (D-Kratovil)

More good news for Hoosiers is that both Hill and Donnelly both are on the endangered list.

48. IN-9 (D-Hill)
49. IN-2 (D-Donnelly)

In the latest Rasmussen poll conducted Aug 4, 5 and 7th, shows Republican nominee Dan Coats continues to hold a commanding lead in Indiana’s U.S. Senate race.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Indiana finds Coats with a 50% to 29% lead over Democratic Congressman Brad Ellsworth. It’s Ellsworth’s poorest showing to date. Seven percent (7%) favor some other candidate in the race, but 14% remain undecided.

Other questions from the Rasmussen poll show that Hoosiers overwhelmingly support Arizona and their new immigration law.

Seventy percent (70%) of Indiana voters favor passage of an immigration law like Arizona’s in their own state. This, too, is higher than support among voters nationwide.

In other polling results, only 39%  of Hoosier voters favor President Obama while 60% disapprove. Hoosiers still love Governor Daniels and the job he is doing. 65% of those polled say that Governor Daniels is doing a good job with only 33% of those polled have an unfavorable opinion of him.

Tiger Trent Van Haffton is back in the news. This time he was bestowed with the blessings of the “blue dog” group. You know the group, the Democrates that say they are fiscally conserviative, yet vote for Obamacare, the largest bail out in US history, as well as a 13 trillion dollar debt.

“Blue dog” my butt!! Brad Ellsworth is a member of the blue dogs, so is Baron Hill and they both keep on voting for every spending bill that Nancy and Barry want.

Funny watching tax and spend liberals fall all over themselves saying they are conservative at election time.

Did you see where Donald Duck allegedly got caught sneaking into second base with a lady at Disney World?  According to the affidavit, the plaintiff,  a Pennsylvania woman alleges that a Disney employee dressed as Donald Duck grabbed her breast and molested her after she sought an autograph.

 April Magolon is suing Disney for…..wait for it….

“emotional anguish and distress including, but not limited to post traumatic stress disorder, muscle contraction headaches, physical harm resulting in distress, including acute anxiety, nausea, cold sweats, insomnia, nightmares, flashbacks, digestive problems and exacerbation of physical injuries and other sever emotional disabilities. Oh, and she also suffered from injuries of an unknown nature; she suffered from sever pains, mental anxiety and anguish, and a sever shock to her entire nervous system and other injuries that they just don’t know about yet.”

 No, really. It says that in the affidavit. It goes on to say that

“She has in the past and will in the future undergo severe pain and suffering as a result of which she has been in the past and will in the future undergo severe pain as a result which she has in the past and will in the future will be unable to attend to her usual duties and occupation, all to her great financial detriment and loss”

I am in no way condoning or making fun of sexual assault, but come on. After all this, Donald was heard saying that he was quacking under all the pressure.

OMG. What an idiot. That, of course is the blog language for what I really said when I was reading about this dip stick.

Former 8th district congressman Joel Deckard wrote about his days as a human smuggler in a on line book. Apparently, Deckard, a Republican, said that after he got his butt handed to him by Frank McCloskey left office, he moved to Florida to work for a trucking company. While there, he met up with some “friends” who needed some people relocated. Ok, now I feel like I am writing an episode of the Sapranos!

Since this bone head, had “helped several people in the Brazilian community fill out immigration forms and get money owed them by a cleaning company, even after learning the workers lacked legal documentation” felt that this was a um… logical step forward.

“Nearly all of these people were family people. They were trying to get to Canada to make a better life for themselves. I was serving, I think, a highly moral purpose at great risk in order to help them make a better life for themselves. It’s as simple as that. They were good, honest, hardworking, religious people.”

Nearly… ok, so maybe some were prostitutes, some might be drug smugglers, some even killers. I’m sure that he did an case study on each person that he took across the boarder. Now, I should be happy that he was taking these ILLEGAL people out of the US instead of in, but the law is the law and it works both ways.  Of course he did charge them all a fee for his service. I have to wonder, did he charge a fee while still a congressman?

Gail Montenegro, a public affairs officer with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, said people caught transporting illegal aliens for pay within the United States can face up to 10 years in prison.

She said a U.S. Attorney’s office would have to decide whether someone would be prosecuted for activities years in the past.

Deckard said he knows disclosing his activities could have legal consequences but has no regrets about what he did.

“I was interested in helping families find a better place and a better life for themselves. This wasn’t taking any job away from any American. It was simply a matter of helping people out. It certainly wasn’t a matter of getting rich.”

Well you self righteous pig. So very glad that I was not old enough to have voted for you. Here’s hoping that ICE prosecutes your sorry butt to the fullest extent of the law.

PS, this isn’t Mr. Deckard’s first brushwith the law. Just months before the 1982 election, he had a bit too much to drink and had a little fender bender. Oh, and he refused the breathalyzer. Thus, DUI. Frank McCloskey went on to beat Deckard in 82′ setting up the show down between McCloskey and Rick McIntyre in 84′.

The Vincennes Community School Corporation took another hit this week.

Informed and reliable sources have confirmed that the VCSC will have to shave yet another million dollars from it’s budget. This, after the Superintendent, Business Manager, and principle of the soon to be open middle school all left within a 30 day period.

According to our sources, after business manager Chad Blakelock left earlier last month, the board had an independent audit performed on the books. This is a customary procedure which should not raise any eyebrows. But what should raise the hair on the necks of all taxpayers, is the fact that Mr. Blakelock can’t do math. He was a little off – only about a million dollars off!

What are they going to cut next? They have already cut PE teachers in the grade schools, librarians, several teachers, an entire school building (Washington Elementary) as well as several non-essential positions.

The only thing that I see that they didn’t cut was the budget when it came to the new administration building.

Bloody8th will keep you  posted of any new developments.

What is it about prosecutors who want to have sex with everyone – except their spouses?

Earlier, we brought you the story about the Democrat candidate for Gibson County prosecutor soliciting sex for legal service and for having child porn on his computer. Now comes reports that Democrat Perry County Prosecutor Robert Collins is facing a possible disciplinary action for firing a former chief deputy prosecutor allegedly after she spurned his sexual advances.

According to the complaint, Collins hired Hayse to be his chief deputy prosecutor in April 2007 and their relationship was initially professional.

However, according to the complaint, that changed in July 2008 when Collins allegedly tried to rub Hayse’s feet. The complaint alleges that two weeks later after Hayse finished making a closing argument in a murder trial that Collins whispered in her ear, “I want to have sex with you.”

What a pick pick up line…had I only known this while in college! But this isn’t just a he said/she said situation.

A Conservation Officer with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources who was seated next to the two attorneys reportedly overheard the alleged remark, according to the complaint.

Ooops.  If Collins is found guilty of the allegations that the Supreme Court could impose penalties ranging from a private or public reprimand to suspension or even disbarment from practicing law in the state.

Today, in 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired over 11,000 air-traffic controllers who refused a federal order to return to work

Current speaker of the Indiana house, Pat Bauer is running on empty.

At the request of Speaker Bauer and House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Crawford, The Indianapolis Star got together with the top two Democrats in the Indiana House. After the meeting,  Matt Tully wrote a column about the meeting. The name of the column: ”60 minutes and 0 ideas from top Democrats“.

Maybe they were having a bad day. A really bad day.

That’s what I kept thinking last week during an hour long meeting with Indiana House Speaker Pat Bauer and House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Crawford — an hour now in the running for My Biggest Waste of 60 Minutes This Year. Unless I end up watching an episode of “Jersey Shore” at some point, last week’s meeting will likely win the prize.

 Ouch!

The two leading Democrats had asked to meet with a group of reporters and editors from The Star. It seemed like a good opportunity to talk about the upcoming House elections, and the ramifications that the outcomes of those races will have on the final two years of Gov. Mitch Daniels’ administration. I looked forward to hearing Bauer in particular share his views about the importance of Democratic control of the House.

But they arrived with little to say. Bauer started the meeting by pulling out a few pieces of scrap paper on which he had scribbled a few words.

“I’ve got notes, man!” he declared.

That’s all he had.

To sum up the meeting, the top Democrats are in full support of Education – kinda, and jobs.

“We would want to focus on maintaining public education,” Bauer said.

My colleagues and I naively asked several questions in the hope of learning more about House Democratic policies. We asked for concrete proposals. Nada. We nearly begged for ideas. Nothing. Since you’re so in favor of education, one of us asked, how about promoting universal full-day kindergarten?

Bauer at this point in time is more than likely looking over the notes that the ISTA provided for him.

Bauer said. “But you have to be able to afford it.”Now, I can appreciate the value of balance in government. It forces bipartisanship and leads to more moderate policies. But balance by itself, without a glimmer of vision, is a hard sell at a time when Daniels remains extremely popular and the national mood is giving Democrats heartburn.

Ahh, yes! We support education….But Pat’s main concern is being Speaker.

“Daniels is a money machine, I admit it,” he said. “We have to articulate our issues. We survive by communicating with voters.”

If that’s true, based on last week’s performance, House Democrats are in serious trouble.

Mr. Bauer, your vision would connect with the voters – if only you had one.

Indiana’s 8th district candidate Dr. Larry Bucshon has released his “Made in Indiana” jobs and economy recovery plan. Dr. Bucshon details how we can get Hoosiers back to work and get our economy moving again.

Click here to read Dr. Bucshons “Made in Indiana“.