The Republican candidate for President, in the last days of the campaign, is rallying the faithful in Indiana.

The Democratic candidate for President, in the last days of the campaign, is running commercials in Arizona, Georgia and North Dakota.

The polling data and anecdotal evidence shows a significant number of Hoosiers are going to vote for Barack Obama for President and Mitch Daniels for Governor.

IPS is closing six schools, firing 400 teachers and is still asking for millions in tax dollars to make improvements.

The Republican and former Democratic Mayor of Indianapolis who fought a brutal race are teaming up against township government.

And the Washington Township assessor was forced to admit Friday consolidation would not be bad, as long as it wasn’t done while she was still in office.

What kind of world are we living in?

If you’d told me a year ago that John McCain would (a) be the Republican presidential nominee and (b) be holding a campaign rally here the day before the election, I’d have keeled over on the spot.

And yet, today we find out that Sen. McMavericky will be here on Monday in an attempt to put a few last-ditch points on the board.

Every single poll has shown that Indiana, redder than red for the past four decades, is in play — with things all tied up. This shouldn’t be happening, but it is, and it’s happening because Barack Obama didn’t take us for granted.

So, here’s the question: Will it be enough, or will it be too little too late?

I’ve said for a month now that Obama wins Indiana by a couple points. I’m sticking with that, even if McAllOverTheFearAndLoathingTalkingPoints shows up a few hours before the polls open.

We can debate ’til the cows come home how things might have been if he’d connected on the economy and not picked an empty Dolce suit as his running mate, but he made the choices he made, and how he has to have to come to fly-over country to defend those choices in order to avoid complete embarrassment when the Magic Map lights up on election night.

The Indianapolis Star and the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics both released poll numbers today indicating that the Guv’s race is over. The Star has Democratic challenger Jill Long Thompson down by 18 points; the Downs Center shows her trailing by 17 points. I still think this one will wind up around 10 percent because of the Obama factor.

Speaking of Obama, the Star poll showed yesterday that he and John McCain are in a dead heat. The Downs Center poll shows the two candidates tied at 47 percent.

The Downs Center also polled the other two statewide races.

In the Attorney General’s race, Republican Greg Zoeller leads Democrat Linda Pence 46 percent to 42 percent. Republican Tony Bennett leads Democrat Richard Wood 45 percent to 41 percent in the race for Superintendent of Public Instruction.

What does all this mean?

The two down-ballot statewide races are tied to Obama’s turnout and performance; the Guv’s race is the result of a nearly flawless campaign by incumbent Mitch Daniels and a nearly nonexistent campaign by Thompson.