Carson extends medical leave (Julia Carson-IN)

WTHR ^ | 11/1/07

[Kimmers]

Indianapolis - Indiana congresswoman Julia Carson says she needs more rehabilitation from a serious leg infection and won't go back to Capitol Hill until mid-December.

She hoped to return to Washington Thursday. But in a statement, the 69-year-old says she's frustrated, but unfortunately healing takes longer than expected.

[Galactic Overlord-In-Chief]

It’s ridiculous. The rodents don’t seem to have the problem we do with getting people to step up to the plate. The Coats thing was really despicable. If he had put up a fight to hold the seat against Bayh and won, he’d have been a giant-killer. If he had lost narrowly, he would’ve still been well regarded and quite likely drafted to run for Governor (instead of the disappointing Mitch Daniels). Instead, they put up the embarrassing RINO ex-Mayor from Fort Wayne. What a joke.

If you're going out, why not go out with a bang? Coats hasn't run for office since then, a loss apparently wouldn't have hurt him. For that matter, Dan Quayle could have come back and run for his old seat. Paul Trible in VA also took a pass when Chuck Robb announced he was running. They ought to take a page from Jesse Helms, he didn't back down when Jim Hunt challenged him, and Helms won.

At least with Mark Warner we're running a former governor against him.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Dan Quayle made the biggest mistake of his life following the advice of President Nixon that didn’t apply to him. Nixon urged him NOT to run for Indiana Governor before running for President (as we well remember Nixon’s 1962 fiasco when he ran for CA Governor) and suggested he move to the Southwest to build a new political base of support. Quayle, after moving to Arizona, spent about 5 minutes running for President in ‘96 before he dropped out, and hasn’t done anything since. Had he remained in IN, he would’ve handily beaten the late Frank O’Bannon in ‘96 (in fact, even if he hadn’t run, Marilyn Quayle could’ve run for the job — she was just as capable and even more intelligent). Dan could’ve faced off against Bayh for the open seat that Coats ran away from... and that one single seat would be the difference between Dingy Reid running the Senate and the GOP.