Published: May 06, 2008 09:36 pm         

Democrat gubernatorial race — Schellinger, Long Thompson running neck-and-neck

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indianapolis architect Jim Schellinger edged slightly ahead of former congresswoman Jill Long Thompson Tuesday night in a tight race for the Democratic nomination for governor.

Returns from 66 percent of the state’s precincts showed Schellinger with 50.4 percent of the vote to Long Thompson’s 49.6 percent, according to unofficial results tallied by The Associated Press. The winner will face Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels in November.

Schellinger, a regular donor to the party who is making his first run for office, had an early fundraising advantage and backing from some big-name state Democrats. But Long Thompson, who also served as undersecretary of agriculture in the Clinton administration, had better name recognition.

Even so, the race struggled to gain traction in a primary overshadowed by the Democratic presidential contest between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Those two and their supporters have spent weeks crisscrossing Indiana, whose late primary has not been in play on the presidential side since 1968.

“I’m willing to bet that half of the voters don’t know there is a Democratic primary for governor,” said Brian Vargus, a political science professor at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis.

Tuesday’s winner will head into November’s race at a financial disadvantage against the well-funded Daniels, who had no primary opponent. “The challenger would have to have a lot of money just to catch up with name recognition,” said William Kubik, a political science professor at Hanover College in southern Indiana.

But party officials hope voter displeasure with some of the first-term governor’s changes will bolster the Democratic nominee.

Both candidates have criticized Daniels for leasing the Indiana Toll Road and other privatization efforts and ending collective bargaining rights for state employees. They also said that Daniels’ job-creation efforts have fallen far short of expectations and that the sluggish economy has taken a toll on Indiana families.

Long Thompson has proposed steering more tax incentives to businesses that locate in economically depressed counties and wants to revamp the state’s tax structure to attract businesses. Schellinger has stressed work force training, advancing small business and providing grants for developing new environmental technologies.

Long Thompson has repeatedly touted a proposal that would cap the sales tax on gasoline whenever prices top $2.75 per gallon. Schellinger dismissed that as a shallow, “knee-jerk” attempt to win votes but recently said he would consider making the gasoline sales tax a flat tax.

The campaigns have exchanged several jabs. Long Thompson said Schellinger had “made millions by lobbying to raise property taxes to pay for expensive school projects he designed.” Schellinger said his firm had talked to local officials about school projects but had not “lobbied” for them.

He ran a TV ad that said while Long Thompson was in Congress, she voted to cut Medicare and Social Security and supported unfair trade deals that “ship our jobs overseas.” She said the ad distorted her record.

While both candidates ran TV ads for weeks, Daniels blitzed the airwaves with commercials of his own. In one he acknowledged that many people think he has ushered in change too fast. He says he understands that sentiment but hopes people believe he wants to improve Indiana.

Daniels has outraised and outspent the two Democrats, and as of March 31 had $5.3 million cash on hand — four times that of Schellinger and Long Thompson combined.