Dealing With Leyva

The Post Tribune's Jerry Davich sat down at the home of our repeatedly failed Republican congressional candidate for a one-on-one interview.

Will (or should) Mark Leyva run again against powerhouse Pete?

In the article, Davich tells us that he contacted Levya before the election and Leyva told him: "The polling numbers show me just under six points down and a nine-point undecided spread."

At least now we know it was Leyva himself spreading this lie.

When asked why he lost, Leyva responded that the lack of voting machines in the southern part of Lake County, a clueless local media, and the lack of support from the disorganized Republican Party in the region.

It's not the media that's clueless in this equation.  Mark Leyva has been running for Congress, not making any ground, for a decade.  During that time, Leyva has failed to learn some fundamentals to winning a campaign.  First, whose support do you need to win any election - especially as an underdog?  The local media and your political party.  Who did Leyva blame for his loss?  The local media and the political party.

Is the region's GOP really disorganized?  Well, Republicans had a relatively good election night here.  As the Chairwoman of the Lake County GOP is going to be quick to point out, Lake County elected it's first Republican to county-wide office in a long time.  In addition to that, Lake County Democrats are beginning to jump ship and come into the Republican fold.  This doesn't happen for disorganized parties.

In fact, the reason why Leyva blames them is because the chairs of the five county Republican Parties in IN-01 rejected a DEMAND for funding from Mark Leyva that came in the form of a threatening and insulting e-mail directlyy from the congressional candidate.  I'm not exactly the most tactful Wizard in the world, but even I know not to bite the hand that feeds me... or at least would feed me if I wasn't a fatheaded, good-for-nothing jerk of a politician.

With regards to the voting machine problem, the southern part of the county is sparsely populated enough not to need the machines.  If there was corruption, I assure you that one of Indiana's Secretaries of State over the last decade would have stepped in and tackled the problem.  Believe me, if a Secretary of State could expose corruption, he would do it in a heartbeat to bolster his own political stock.  The image of a corruption fighter is a lot more valuable than anything Pete Visclosky and Lake County Democrats could offer a state-wide politician, especially a Republican.

And the media?   How can anyone be so stupid as to insult the media for not giving you enough time when you're sitting down with the top political reporter for the most widely distributed newspaper in the area to talk about the potential of your next campaign?

Leyva has one person to blame for his political failures.  Himself.

Then again, I'm sure some of you will say this was a victory for Leyva.  He only lost by 22% this time.