The Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce HobNob is THE meet and greet event of the Indiana electoral season. I don't entirely understand the food chain, but it is officially co-sponsored by the Indiana Democrat, Libertarian, and Republican parties. Local tv and radio stations have their fingers in it as well.

It was a fine mix of prominent business people, members of boards and such, and many of the higher level candidates for public office in the state this year. I'm guessing there were a thousand people or more attending.

We all got together for a lovely affair at the Indiana Historical Society on Ohio Street. One particularly nice feature of the event was the bunch of wandering historical re-enactors hired from Conner Prarie among other places. They wandered the grounds in historical garb, schmoozing and telling their stories. They had a particularly cool looking ringer for Teddy Roosevelt. Most of them were more types of people, though, rather than specific historical figures. I was bonding with a fur trapper from the Oklahoma territories, circa 1860.

Probably my bestest new buddy for the night turned out to be Katherine Fox Carr, a very personable Democrat running for the 5th district house seat long occupied by Dan Burton. She expressed some frustration that a whack job like Burton cannot be effectively challenged in this heavily Republican district. She considers him rather an embarassment to the state.

For my part, I kind of enjoy such eccentricities as Burton's talk on the house floor about how he had shot a watermelon in his back yard to test a theory about Vince Foster's death. I find such things endearingly eccentric, but I can see how exasperating this might be to others. Miss Katherine thinks we need a more serious and perhaps more mentally balanced congressional representative.