The fight over early voting in Lake County continued yesterday in federal court, and the judge assured both parties that his decision will come Monday. John Byrne of the Post-Trib gives more information on yesterday's hearing:Attorneys spent about eight hours Friday arguing in front of U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen about whether the satellite voting sites in the three cities help ensure a fair election for residents in northern Lake County or represent a crass attempt by Democrats to run up big returns in one of Indiana's biggest Democratic strongholds.

In the end, Van Bokkelen said he had not decided whether to grant Lake County Republican Chairman John Curley a temporary restraining order to prevent the voting sites from opening in Clerk's Office locations in the cities.

"I have gone all over the place on this case," Van Bokkelen said.

The judge promised to announce his decision Monday, so the voting sites could open Tuesday if he does not grant the restraining order.While the right-wingers continue to twitter away about non-existent voter fraud -- I've never seen so much uproar over an election apparatus that seems to be working quite well -- they don't seem nearly as vocal about clearly expressing their real intentions when it comes to voting rights this election cycle.

The legal arguments may be nuanced, but the message from Indiana Republicans is not: They want a restraining order to make it more difficult for low-income voters to cast an early ballot. It's just that simple.

Great news out of the the 3rd CD, where Democratic challenger Mike Montagano has brought Republican Mark Souder's lead down to just five points. On the heels of the DCCC's decision to add Mike to their very successful Red to Blue program, today's results reveal an upset in the making.

Some of the more interesting findings:

Cooper & Secrest
503 Likely Voters -- MoE +/- 4.4%
October 6-7

If election was held today...
44% - Mark Souder (R)
39% - Mike Montagano (D)
4% - William Larsen (L)
13% - Undecided

Among those who have seen a Montagano ad...
32% - Mark Souder (R)
53% - Mike Montagano (D)

Souder's approval rating is still sub-fifty, with both positive and negative numbers at 48%.

This is one we can win, folks, but Mike needs your help. Be sure to head over and throw him some coin to help take out a congressman who stands against everything this election year stands for.

WISH-TV recently released an interesting poll showing our new Democratic Congressman André Carson ahead by 16 points. http://www.wishtv.com/Global/s...
Andre Carson has a 16 point lead over Republican challenger Gabrielle Campo at 51 to 35 percent. Eleven percent of the voters remain undecided.
My guide to predicting 2008 results is the 2004 election where Julia Carson got 54% of the vote in the 7th but Kerry got 59%. Julia's Republican opponent was Andy Horning who didn't run a credible campaign. This freed Julia up to relax and run a low-intensity campaign herself to garner 54% of the vote. John Kerry ran a minimal campaign in Indianapolis and still received 59%.

This fall, André Carson has a virtual unknown, Republican Gabrielle Campo, as an opponent. She's a nice, well-meaning GOP newbie but the Republicans could run me or Thomas Cook as their candidate and receive about the same number of votes.

The Obama Tsunami of energized and new voters will overwhelm the voting places this November 4th. Congressman Carson has allied himself closely with Barack Obama and should receive most that "Obama-vote". I was flabbergasted on Wednesday out at the Fairgrounds when André emerged from the tunnel behind the stage on the racetrack: the crowd spotted him and a great roar of approval resounded. He is now definitely a well-known public figure respected by Democrats.

Later, after the rally, André mingled with the departing crowd and was mobbed by children! Sure, there were enthusiastic grownups too but I am still puzzling how our new Congressman is so known and loved by little people too young to vote or care about politics. Odd. Very odd...

The WISH-TV poll very likely massively underestimates the final results whereby André Carson will likely receive 60% to 65% of the vote. Their stated 16 point lead now is sweet but the 51% is suspiciously low. Julia was always underestimated in the polls but she always came through on Election Day.

Want to know what the voice of desperation sounds like? May I present Senator Lindsay Graham:In a phone interview before headlining the Indiana Republican Party's fundraising dinner in Indianapolis on Thursday night, Graham said Hoosiers are too smart to vote for Obama.

Democrats, he said, "can't win fairly out here."

Asked whether Democrats could win without cheating, Graham said, "No. They can't win fairly out here 'cause their agenda is so far removed from the average Hoosier.

"We could lose, I suppose, if they cheat us out of it," Graham said of Indiana's 11 electoral votes. "I think the only way we lose a state like North Carolina or Indiana is to get cheated out of it."The message from the McCain campaign's out-of-state surrogate is this: If a Hoosier votes for Obama, they're an idiot.

Someone should probably tell the good senator from South Carolina that Hoosiers don't take too kindly to the Washington establishment wandering out here once a month to tell us how stupid we are.

How positively mavericky of them, eh?

The night-and-day swings in messaging from Team McCain over the last few weeks has been startling. They have gone from laughing at the Obama campaign's strong effort in this state to accusing them of winning the wrong way, an erratic change of direction from a campaign that can't seem to get enough of the impulsive action as of late.

It is also worth noting that while the ACORN allegations are serious, so is our state and local election apparatus. And the inescapable fact that the GOP still can't produce a solid example of in-person vote fraud in this state means that their breathless shouts are even more transparent than usual.

I saw him speak at the IU-B Law School a few weeks ago, and he brought the room to tears before he brought us to our feet. One of the greatest benefits this election year has afforded us has been some good, quality Birch Bayh time.Bayh told a crowd of autoworkers every vote counts, as evidenced by the fact that, when he upset Republican Sen. Homer Capehart in 1962, "we won by two votes a precinct in all of Indiana's 90 counties."

When no one in the audience corrected Bayh, he said: "I thought somebody would say, 'Senator, we've got 92 counties.' I thought Mitch sold a couple of them."

[...]

"I remember back when they said you couldn't elect a Catholic (John Kennedy). By God we did, and the pope didn't ever show up."

He continued: "I think that's relevant. Some people say you can't vote for this kind of president or this kind of governor because they're a little different, and we never had one quite like it. But they're Americans, and they're going to provide leadership to the state of Indiana and for this country."

New polling out of the Fightin' Ninth, and it seems to confirm the earlier SurveyUSA numbers that show Congressman Baron Hill in a strong position in his reelection battle against Millionaire Mike.

Research 2000 for WISH-TV
400 Likely Voters -- MoE +/- 5%
Sept. 29 - Oct. 3

49% - Baron Hill
37% - Mike Sodrel
14% -- Undecided/Other

The high margin of error and the apparently absent release of cross-tabs -- has anyone seen them? -- makes this data a little less satisfying, but coming on the heels of SUSA's venture into the area, I believe it.

Still, this fight isn't over, and we have to keep pushing all the way to the finish line in order to keep Mike "I love George Bush, Dick Cheney, and lie detectors" Sodrel out of Congress.