Poor Jon Elrod can’t catch a break. First, he couldn’t figure out what office he wanted to run for, and then he scheduled a political press conference with Mayor Greg Ballard in the middle of a murder spree.

But Ballard, presumably after his handlers realized what a terrible idea it would be to have the Public Safety Mayor show up at a campaign event while an Indianapolis police officer continues to recover from a gunshot wound to the head, bailed on this morning’s joint appearance.

Maybe this will be a wake-up call for Elrod to focus on issues that matter to residents in House District 97 instead of on shameless partisan pandering. If he spent half as much time serving his constituents as he did planning his political future, he’d know that Greg Ballard’s support of his campaign is not what’s on people’s minds right now.

Mayor Greg Ballard is scheduled to hold a press conference tomorrow with Republican House District 97 candidate — and erstwhile Seventh District Congressional hopeful — Jon Elrod.

You’d think, given that we’ve witnessed more than a dozen murders and a seriously injured police officer over the past two weeks, that Ballard would be holding a press conference to talk about crime, perhaps even to lay out a detailed plan for how he’s going to address this violent spike.

Nope.

He’s planning to announce that he’s going to serve as Elrod’s campaign chair for his re-election effort.

That’s right. In the middle of a homicide streak that’s got the city scared and looking for leadership, Ballard is focused on politics.

That, ladies and gentleman, is apparently the Number One Priority of the man who once promised voters he’d put their public safety first.

Clearly, the guy just doesn’t get it.

  It looks like Republicans are finally going to get a candidate in the Seventh District race.  That’s the one from which Jon Elrod bailed after determining he didn’t have a snowball’s chance of unseating newly-elected Democrat Andre Carson.

  Newcomer Gabrielle Campo has scheduled an announcement for Monday morning at the City Market.  She will only say that it involves the Seventh District.  But since she’s the person District Chairman John Hammond has been pushing from the start, it’s fairly safe to say she’ll be announcing her candidacy.

  The only question is why it took so long.  Elrod quit the race on June 18th, almost a month ago.  Anyone declaring that day would have been way behind in gaining name recognition and raising money.  Campo is now even further behind.

  So what’s the reason for running now?  To gain name recognition for a later race, even though there’s little or no hope of winning this one?  Possibly.

(Watch Jennifer’s Hot Button commentary)

Republican Jon Elrod abruptly quit the 7th District Congressional race last week and is now trying to defend his Statehouse seat, which he won by a mere handful of votes in 2006.

Elrod said he was quitting because he couldnt beat André Carson. That much is certain. Elrod ran a terrible campaign in the March special election, and there are plenty of Republicans mad at him for that lackluster effort.

Still, Elrod would have been better off losing again to Carson than trying to save face by backtracking to House District 97, a Democratic seat with a well-qualified Democratic candidate running this time around.

Politics is all about opportunity, Jon, but you have to be smart about it. When you’re dead, you stay dead. At least for an election cycle or two. You certainly dont flip-flop from one race to the next like its some sort of shameless game.

The people you represent in House District 97 - I’m one of them, by the way - expect more from their so-called representative. My grandpa used to call it stick-to-it-ive-ness. Im sure youll have plenty of time to figure it out after the November election.

Did Jon Elrod blow two races for the Republicans when he made his stunning withdrawal from the 7th District Congressional race on Wednesday?  His pull-out leaves the party with no candidate in the race against rookie Democrat Andre Carson.  Elrod seemed to be saying he couldn’t win that race, calling it a “long shot.”  But could anybody else do any better, given the late start on both name recognition and fund-raising?

Of course, if a really big GOP name could be induced to enter the race, that might change.  But the name many party leaders are hoping for, Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi, sent word through an aide that he won’t be a candidate.  And with many Republicans hunkering down to ride out what they fear is a coming Democratic tidal wave, finding a replacement who could introduce himself to voters in less than four and a half months won’t be easy.

The other race in peril is the 97th District state House race, which Elrod technically still holds.  Having abandoned his Congressional ambitions, Elrod is seeking to get back into the contest for his legislative district.  Technically, it won’t be hard, since nobody ran and the slot is vacant.

  But Elrod faces this teeny-tiny problem:  He’s already told those constituents he doesn’t want the job anymore.  And no amount of rationalizing about how he relishes the challenges facing the upcoming General Assembly is likely to make them forget that. 

His Democratic opponent, Mary Ann Sullivan, has been working hard for months and is rated a strong contender.  And she’s already challenging Elrod to make a pledge that he will serve the entire two-year term.  Since Elrod is a first-termer who won his normally Democratic district by less than a dozen votes in 2006, none of this bodes well for him to hold that seat for Republicans.