One thing all Hoosiers may share regardless of their political view is that the end to campaign advertisements and mail is a good thing.  With the primary over, here are some of the races we were watching with close interest:

Indiana House District 82 had an interesting Republican primary pitting a talented young man named David Ober running against most of the political establishment to win by 266 votes.  Those familiar with Representative Tim Wesco, the youngest member of the Indiana House, may find a similar impressive “young gun” talent in that of David Ober.  (AFA of Indiana’s political action committee endorsed Ober.)

Indiana House District 64 was one that many thought would be a close race, but Tom Washburne won the Republican primary with 66%.  One of my friends in the legislature remarked that Washburne’s election in the fall would raise the cumulative IQ of the Indiana House by 20 points.  Tom has a resume that sounds more like that of a Congressman or a Senator.  He was the head of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Michigan for many years. He was one of the top attorneys for the Home School Legal Defense Association near Washington, DC, and he served as Chief of Staff for both Congressmen John Hostettler and Mike Sodrel.  Should he win in the fall, he could become a significant voice in the Indiana House.

Indiana House District 52 had an interesting behind the scenes angle to it that had included many of the same forces behind it, as did the race in HD 82 with David Ober. Ben Smaltz surprised some with a larger than expected margin over his closest opponent Paul Moss.  Interestingly, Moss was the only legislative GOP candidate in Allen County to come out in favor of placing a casino in Fort Wayne. In addition to the political establishment, he had some donors from the those industries help his campaign. Smaltz won with 57% of the vote in a field of four. Moss received just 20% of the vote.