The 5th District race for the republican Congressional nomination is about to raise its profile dramatically.

Luke Messer, one of seven candidates vying for the GOP nomination,  is taking his campaign to the airwaves. Messer has a new 30-second TV commercial that will start airing on cable and then make its way to local TV in the next two weeks.

“We do have six, even candidates in the race but when you see polling it is clear that people are looking for a new congressman.  We want to be that alternative.  I think this ad is the start of the final six weeks of the campaign and our opportunity to show we really are the best chance to bring a new congressman to the 5th district,” said Messer.

The primary is May fourth.

Lawmakers may not be able to reach the Thursday night deadline to adjourn the current legislative session. Officially the session does not end until March 14th but there was some sentiment that they have completed most of their work and could adjourn Thursday night by midnight.

But by noon, reality was setting in. Negotiations are still ongoing dealing with Unemployment Trust fund. Republican Senator Luke Kenley interviewed live on WTHR News at Noon admitted both sides are struggling to reach a compromise on the issue and he added, “I would be very surprised if we are out of here today.”

NY Times columnist Ross Douthat thinks Gov. Mitch Daniels would be a darling among Tea Party conservatives. Here’s why.

Indiana’s 8th District congressman Brad Ellsworth is putting his name in as a candidate for the United States Senate Seat currently held by retiring Senator Evan Bayh.

Ellsworth made his announcement in Evansville Friday morning. State Representative Trent Van Haaften filed the paperwork at the Secretary of State’s office to run for Ellsworth’s Congressional seat just before the noon time deadline Friday.

Thursday afternoon former Republican Senator Dan Coats will walk into the Indiana Secretary of State’s office with 4,500 signatures from Hoosiers all across the state of Indiana. Those signatures will give him a slot on the primary ballot in May. Coats is hoping to win back his old Senate seat vacated by now retiring Senator Evan Bayh.

When Coats enters the race officially he will actually be carrying more than what is required. A source close to the candidate say he will be coming with many more signatures than the state requires. Indiana mandates 500 signatures from each of the 9 congressional districts in the state. Coats will be making a point by coming with many more. Not bad considering he just got in the race a little over a week ago. There was word on the street that his campaign was paying five dollars per signature to get those in such a short time but the accomplishment is still impressive.

Tea Party candidate Richard Behney will arrive one hour after Coats. His story is also impressive because of the grass roots efforts required to raise the mandated signatures.

These Republicans have fulfilled the state’s requirements which certainly is more than the Democratic candidate will do. Because the late announcement by Senator Bayh, the Democratic candidate will be named by the state committee.

It’s ten o’clock and I am still fielding calls about Evan Bayh. One person asked whether Evan Bayh waited to make his announcement in order to make sure Republicans could not field a top flight candidate – like Congressman Mike Pence or Governor Mitch Daniels. If that was the mission, he did succeed.

I’m not sure Governor Daniels would have wanted to make a run for it anyway, but I am all but certain Mike Pence is wondering about the timing of this announcement. No way he could get 500 certified signatures from each of Indiana’s 9 legislative districts in this week.

They are supposed to be turned into the secretary of state’s office on Tuesday for certification by the end of the week. So if that was the goal it may have succeeded but that will only be the case if Democrats can field a top flight candidate themselves and the scouring has begun.

Maybe Senator Bayh will offer up some of that $13 million to help candidate Ellsworth, Hill or Weinzapfel. If Bayh’s move has done anything it has certainly brought a new energy to all of this. NBC Nightly News led with his announcement Monday night.

By the way why do we only hear about the five Democratic senators not running for re-election and not the 6 Republican senators not running? I think Republicans are counting their chickens before they are hatched. A lot of R’s think the tea party vote is going to go their way. I think that much of the vote, including the tea party, will go anti-incumbent. I think they are sick of the lot of them which means we have a very interesting election in the fall.

I must say I never thought I would see the day when Evan Bayh was not the leading man in state Democratic party politics, but the day is here. He made a tough decision.

Some will say he wanted to get out before the tidal wave swept him out, but the latest polls did show him 20 points ahead of the leading Republican candidate. It is hard for me to imagine the Senator losing an election and I still believe he could win in the fall. He might have had to fight a little harder this time around.

Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman’s office released the following statement today on the issue of whether she will make a run for governor in 2012.

“I’ve begun to seriously think about 2012, but there’s little time to do much more than that. Our 2010 agenda of reform is still a priority, and there is a very important election this November. There’s still plenty of time to contemplate the future.”