This week is shaping up to be pretty busy and it’s not even Monday.   Here’s what I’m following.  If there’s something I’m missing, let me know.

Monday night the Marion County GOP will fill the position left vacant by Kent Smith.  My front runner list hasn’t changed.  It’s still, not necessarily in this order, Angel Rivera, Avacino Reeves, Dorothy Henry, Jackie Cissel and Aaron Williams. I expect 2-3 ballots before a winner is declared.  I am hearing some of the candidates are upset at the process and may hold a news conference Tuesday to complain about it.

On Tuesday, the Marion County Clerk will hear candidate challenges.  I’m especially interested in the 14 filed against precinct committeemen that were brought to the table by Indy Mayoral candidate Brian Williams.  For all the huffing and gnashing of teeth in the blogosphere you would have thought there would have been a lot more challenges filed.

On Thursday, we’re doing the radio show live from the Statehouse, and following that, the Indiana Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the Voter ID case.  I hope to have the audio up by noon.

This is also the last week of the Indiana General Assembly.  Lawmakers still have to figure out an agreement on unemployment insurance, school funding, ethics  and township government reform.

And finally, expect some posts this week going into more detail on the lawsuit against the state over the school funding formula as well as the Carmel school district hazing incident.  My sources tell me the Department of Child Services is investigating the coaches who were on the bus at the time to determine if they have any liability.

Also, I’m told the situation involving local labor leader and Democrat Lettie Oliver is a lot more serious than originally believed and the next 12-24 hours will be outcome determinative.   Keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

On Monday, Marion County Republicans will choose a new candidate to fill the seat vacated by former City-County Council member Kent Smith.  The final line-up looks like this…

Jacqueline Cissell
Gary Conner
Kevin Green
Dorothy Henry
Michael Jezierski
Michael Kalscheur
Avachino Reeves
Angel Rivera
Bruce Schumacher
Eric Smith
Aaron Williams

Although the situation is fluid and anything can change, from what I’ve been able to gather, the front-runners are Rivera, Revees, Henry, Cissel and Williams; not necessarily in that owner.

The way balloting will work is that any candidate not getting more than 10 percent of the vote will be eliminated on the first ballot.   After that, delegates will vote until one person gets more than 50-percent of the vote.

Special Note: Local labor leader and Democratic activist Lettie Oliver was hospitalized last night.  Despite our differences she’s a good friend with a warm heart and I wish her a speedy recovery.

If  the Marion County Democratic establishment was going to knock down Mayoral candidate Brian Williams, it’s going to have to hit a little harder next time.

Last Friday the Williams’  campaign filed more than 200 candidates for precinct committeemen (PC) spots.   PC’s are crucial to a political party as they choose the County Chairman, and in a slating system, recommend candidates for offices. However, the chatter has been that many of  those filings were invalid because individuals weren’t registered voters or voted in Republican primaries.   However, when the rubber hit the road there were only 14 challenges filed against Williams’ candidates.  The total number of challenges filed was 31.

In addition, the Williams’ campaign has more than 100 uncontested candidates for precinct committeemen.   The conventional wisdom is that if any candidate can control more than 70 PC’s, he or she can pretty much control the slating and county convention process.

The hearing for the challenges is set for Tuesday, March 2.    Life just got more interesting.

President Obama is hosting a bipartisan health care summit one year after he should have held a bipartisan health care summit.  Both parties will come together at a White House photo op to discuss future reform efforts, but don’t be fooled, this summit is about mitigating political blame and little else.

Despite their best efforts to point the finger at Republicans in the political minority, Democrats are currently shouldering the public blame for a total failure to pass health care reform legislation.  Reaching across the political aisle was the only path to victory in upending 17% of the nation’s GDP, but Democrats wanted to own this issue and claim all of the credit.  So they own it… and don’t really want it anymore.  What is a flailing political party to do?

This issue probably would have been moot by now had the nation’s largest insurer not announced a 39% rate increase on the individual market and breathed new life into health care reform.  Democrats’ response to the increase was instructive.  A president and party truly interested in solving the problem of expensive health care delivery might have tried harder to understand why rates increased 39%.

One Democrat objective in health care reform is for the federal government to absorb the individual market, meaning taxpayers would have absorbed a similar increase in costs.  Getting to the bottom of the problem would have demonstrated an substantive interest in addressing rising health care costs.  Instead, we got what we always get from Democrats: public hand-wringing, empty populism, and the dreaded Congressional subpoena.  Good direct-mail fodder, but none of this showmanship will result in lower costs or one more insured American.  But at least we feel better about it.

So click here and watch the health care summit show.  It’s the best reality TV show on at 10am on a random Thursday morning in an election year.