Primaries to watch in the region

Top 10 Primary Battles on May 4th, 2010 in Northwest Indiana. It may be a good idea to do some research on these tight primary battles before you get to the poll next week. I'm actually posting a little bit at a time today, if you find good links explaining these primary battles put in comments and I'll add them to this post.

1. United States Senate GOP Primary - Dan Coats, John Hostettler, Marlin Stutzman, Richard Behney, Don Bates Jr. - Probably the most watched race statewide, and in some cases the most negative. Even the Governor stepped in yesterday to ask the candidates to refrain from personal attacks. Current handicapping puts former Senator Dan Coats in the lead position due to money and contacts in Washington ... former Congressman John Hostettler strong with Ron Paul's endorsement and former staffers in key positions all over the state ... current State Senator Marlin Stutzman next and playing possible upset role with CPAC, NRA, Red State, and Senate Conservatives endorsements. Who are you supporting?
   
2. Indiana House District 19 - Dan Klein and Fran Katz - this race has received quite a bit of notice, with House GOP Conference (HRCC) pushing former Mayor Dan Klein and some local GOP leaders businesswoman Fran Katz. Much of the rancor reverts back to Klein's days as Mayor in Crown Point.
   
3. Lake County Sheriff Democrat Primary
4. Porter County Auditor Democrat Primary - Incumbent Jim Kopp and Vicki Urbanik. An interesting primary in that a whole bunch of Democrat leaders have endorsed the challenger Urbanik over their own Incumbent. One even going so far as to tell me that if Jim Kopp were to win the primary, she would vote for the Republican in the general before voting for Kopp. Wow. Why all the negative feelings?
   
5. Porter County Assessor GOP Primary - Jon Snyder and Gail Hudson - in a race that should have been no big deal, things got ugly this week. First anonymous complaints about Snyder's signs being 4 inches too big in Valpo, and rumors that more anonymous attacks are being circulated by Hudson supporters. I don't think Gail has anything to do with these attacks, frankly those that recruited her are probably pushing out attacks without even telling her. Hudson works in the Assessors office, and Snyder is a professional appraiser, both are certified ... something the current assessor never was.
   
6. Indiana House District Tom Dermody and Todd Reinert - This race really shouldn't be all that close, but frankly the tea party patriots and the liberty caucus are going to back Todd Reinert, which puts incumbent Dermody in the position of making sure he delivers his supporters to the polls to hold the seat.
   
7. Porter County Council District Kevin Tracy and Jim Biggs - Former Commissioner Jim Biggs, who runs as a Republican but also works quite closely with Democrat David Lains running in Duneland area. Blogger and conservative Kevin Tracy spoiled the party by filing late and immediately calling for removal of Porter County from the RDA. This will ring with a lot of conservatives, and puts Biggs in a box.
   
8. Lake County Council District Eric Kreig v. whom - I really should know who Eric is running against, but I know a commenter will update and I can revise. Eric is running as the candidate of "no" and is aligned with all those against the RDA and Illiana and other regional efforts. I like his anti-tax positions, but not sure if those work as well in Lake County as they do in Porter County.
   
9. United States Congress First District GOP Primary - Rob Pastore, Mark Leyva, others - even the fact that I don't know the other guys' names tells a lot of the story here. Pastore has worked feverishly to win the primary normally controlled by Leyva. I think he may just pull off the win.
   
10. (You suggest another one - which primary am I missing?)