I’m posting this a little bit late, but as anybody who knows me could expect, I was up until beyond the wee hours going berserk over my Pittsburgh Penguins’ spectacular comeback triple-overtime victory in the Stanley Cup final. Now on to my second enthusiasm in life, politics.

Yesterday was not a good day for Governor Mitch Daniels. Yes, he made a good speech that was well received by Republican state convention delegates. But then they turned around and rejected, by a substantial margin, his candidate in the only contested race, that for attorney general.

The last time this happened was in 1992, when delegates refused to ratify gubernatorial candidate (and outgoing attorney general) Linley Pearson’s choice to replace him. Pearson threw a fit and walked out of the convention hall. State chairman Rex Early had to (beg/threaten, depending on which version you hear) Pearson to get him to come back. Pearson went on to get stomped by Evan Bayh.

You can make an argument that Greg Zoeller will be a better candidate. After all he substantially outworked Jon Costas, who seemed content to rest on his endorsements. It was actually like a hockey game, with Zoeller going into the corners to scrap for delegates while Costas stood in front of the goal crease waiting for a pass. You can also argue that Zoeller would be a better attorney general, given his experience and Costas’ delicate situation as a member of a law firm which has defended most of the shady Lake County characters Steve Carter has spent years pursuing.

But there’s no question it’s a slap in the face to Daniels to deny him his choice. And there’s no question that Daniels did have an argument on the geographic balance issue. The governor, who lives in (take your choice: Geist, Hamilton County, North Meridian St.) is the northernmost person on the Republican ticket. Since people along the Toll Road are still seething at him over the lease to foreigners, this won’t help him.

It was also a bad day for Marion County Republican Chairman Tom John. It’s not necessarily a bad thing to anger the rank-and-file by twisting arms to get them to support your candidate. Big city machine pols have done this for years. But when you twist arms and still don’t win, you just reveal yourself as being ineffective. Look for a move to replace John at some point.

Most political insiders are chattering tonight about chief deputy attorney general Greg Zoeller’s landslide upset over Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas in the GOP state convention fight to become the nominee for Attorney General this year.

By golly, I’m not going to be left out of a good debate.

What does it mean?

The Guv and his crew backed Costas, and from all reports, that backing meant lots of arm-twisting and behind-closed-doors negotiations for delegate votes.

That’s not surprising. This is politics, after all, not table tennis.

What is surprising is that it didn’t work.

By more than 350 votes.

Insiders may say Costas ran a terrible campaign, and if these video clips are any indication, yes, he did.

And Zoeller had several high-profile names, including Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi, on his endorsement list.

But there’s no way this isn’t a huge embarrassment for the Guv. Zoeller fought the law, and, uh, he won.

What does it mean for November? Potentially nothing. The down-ticket statewide races most often depend on the top-ticket contenders, which means that if John McCain and the Guv do well, Zoeller will probably do well, too.

Still, it’s not often that you get to see this kind of fight in the bare light of day, played out in front of thousands of party faithful and the media.

Congratulations, Greg. You’ve gone and made things really interesting, and I can guarantee you’ll be getting more than a few phone calls this week from Costas supporters looking to get right before November.

Greg Zoeller won his party’s nomination by more than 1000 votes.  Here’s why.

1.  Jon Costas ran a campaign that was slow to get out of the gate.

2.  Zoeller built a lot of good will over the years and worked his butt off.

3.  Some County chairman had an axe to grind with the Governor.

4.  The Ron Paul supporters who had an axe to grind with the State party.

At the end of the day, does it matter.  It depends on your perspective.  But a win is win.