On occasion, I come across items that don’t necessarily warrant a full blog post, but there’s enough truth to them that they don’t qualify as Cheat Sheet material, so I figured I’d post them here. Enjoy.

Of course the big news this week has been the NBC News/Marist Poll of the U.S. Senate race that gave Joe Donnelly a three-point lead over Mike Braun 44-41, with Libertarian Lucy Brenton coming in with eight percent.   While that has everyone chatting, the real story in the crosstabs.  

  1. Donald Trump’s approval rating is 48 percent.
  2. Donnelly’s approval rating with independents is 50 percent.  Braun’s is at 30 percent.
  3. Donnelly gets 10 percent of Republicans, while Braun gets two percent of Democrats.
  4. Braun does well with white-evangelical and rural voters.  Donnelly does well with non-white, suburban voters.
  5. Forty-nine percent of voters say they want to vote for Democrats to act as a check and balance, while 42 of voters say they prefer to elect Republicans to help the President with his agenda.

Both Braun and Donnelly are scoring big endorsements.  Earlier this week the National Federation of Independent Businesses endorsed Braun.  Meanwhile, the Fraternal Order of Police is endorsing Donnelly on Monday.

FWIW, Roll Call has moved Donnelly from the 3rd most vulnerable U.S. Senator to the 4th.

Democrat State Senate candidate Gary Synder has scored the endorsement of former Huntington County Republican Chairman Kris Underwood.  Underwood attributes his endorsement to past remarks by incumbent Andy Zay that were considered to be racially insensitive.

Indiana Public Media reports that corporate tax collections have missed the mark 13 out of the last 15 months.

Assistant Anderson City Attorney Evan Broderick, the son of Mayor Thomas Broderick Jr., was arrested Wednesday on possible charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated  by Edgewood Police.

Lesley Gordon, former head of external affairs for the state Civil Rights Division is heading to the Attorney General’s Office to head up Outreach.

Katie Heinz has left RTV 6, she was the station’s political reporter.

Our condolences to the family of former Indianapolis City-County Councilor Mary Moriarty Adams who passed away this week.  She was a class act and a true public servant who loved Indianapolis.