CD5 Challenger Fades to Black ... Staff Sacked and Short on Cash, do Insiders hear the "Fat Lady" Sing?

This just in ... (Dateline: Indiana CD 05.)

The erstwhile pol, former coroner, perennial candidate, and ER Doc (who strung out Marion County/Indianapolis GOPers contemplating on a bid for Mayor of the State's Capitol City) has apparently flamed out in his bid to unseat the popular incumbent in CD 05.

"This is like the Surge in Iraq," said one pol close to the Incumbent's camp, "You know he's losing it because nobody is writing about him and those who are seemingly need to stretch the facts somewhere near absurdity to even have anything to write about. It's almost sad."

Local cage liner The Indianapolis Star published a story on 2/1 that cited unidentified "political handicappers" as having the race being "one of fewer than two dozen potentially competitive House Primaries in the country." Really? Who are they talking to? All the political insiders with any street cred wrote this off in October after the abysmal 3Q report showing an anemic (to be kind) $21K raised, and only $81K in the bank. (Not much better at EOY: $85K COH), and the majority of that came from three sources: Medical Professionals, Big Pharma Execs and PACs, and Lawyers ... not to mention the $10K he "loaned" himself.

"At his current burn rate, he will not have enough cash to get into mailboxes, let alone up on the tube, even Cable" one insider told us.

Staff Let Go ... Consultants bail.

In an apparent effort to keep his camp from completely collapsing, we hear that he sacked his FD in a cost-cutting move and noticed in the EOY FEC filing that his consultants are no longer on the payroll ... hmmmm.

Other interesting, but as yet unconfirmed, rumors have been circulating about some "less than honest representations made by the campaign," said one flack over the weekend. " I mean, he was less than accurate with Howey last summer, right? $500 grand by the end of the year. C'mon, where'd he end up? 235 or so, not including the ten grand he gave himself."

Another pol watcher told us, "There's no support there, especially from the activists you need in a primary. Nobody has been willing to stand up behind him and endorse the candidacy."

"The real problem I have with this whole thing", said one GOP party official, "is that he's told folks he's not expecting to win, he just wants to drive his name ID up. That's just forcing us to expend valuable resources unnecessarily in a year where we have tough Statehouse races and a Special Election in CD 07." We've heard the same or similar expressions from many other GOPers who are steamed over losing the "generous contributions" that usually come from the Incumbent's coffers to help fund their GOTV and down ballot races.

Our Call: This one's dropped off the radar... crash & burn.