Governor Mitch Daniels has announced that Indiana will pursue additional $407 million in stimulus funding from the federal government. States are required to apply for the Medicaid funding, placing several Republican governors in the awkward position of asking for the stimulus funds they have denounced. Daniels has said that the stimulus money will only add to the national deficit and rewards states that have not been as fiscally prudent as Indiana. Greater Lafayette's struggling schools will benefit from the funding; it is estimated that Lafayette schools would receive $1.4 million; Tippecanoe School Corp., $2.1 million; and West Lafayette, $400,283.Here is more from the Journal and Courier.

County assessor Samantha Steele-Coles has been cleared of all charges charges of wrongdoing in conjunction with her office's property assessments. According to the Journal and Courier, the report submitted by special prosecutor Robert Ives concluded that the investigation by the Indiana State Police, begun in early 2009, and a report from the the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance "turned up no evidence indicating that Steele-Coles acted with criminal intent," thereby closing the investigation. "This kind of examination isn't a bad thing if you're confident that your systems are working and that you know that you try to do things honestly, ethically and responsibly," Steele-Coles told the J&C. You can read more from the Journal and Courier here.

While her boss badmouths the economic stimulus efforts of the Obama administration, Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman is bragging that Indiana is ninth among states receiving stimulus money for home weatherization. Here's Jim Shella's report. This has been typical of Republican hypocrisy on this issue--criticize the stimulus effort but brag on getting stimulus money for your state.

According to The Hill, Rep. Brad Ellsworth would like to campaign with Senator Evan Bayh, whose Senate seat he aspires to: "I'd be glad to have him. We haven't talked about, you know, coming in and doing that but I would be honored to campaign with him."

So who is Ben Quayle? You don't have to be a genius to figure out that he's the son of former Hoosier Vice President running for elective office in this really nasty election cycle. He apparently thinks calling Barack Obama the worst president in history (Obama who's attempting to clean up the mess left by the real worst president in history) is the pathway to getting himself nominated for Congress in Arizona. His chief qualification, as he explains in the ad, is that he was "brought up right." His ad concludes that what is needed is for someone to go "kick the hell out of Washington." Did his fine upbringing teach him to talk that way? Apparently Quayle the Younger also has a history with a rather racy website which some tough talk may distract Arizonans from. You can see his ad and learn about his political challenges at Salon.

South Bend Tribune political analyst Jack Colwell examines "the Bayh Effect"--the impact of Senator Bayh's not seeking re-election in his column here.

The latest Kaiser Foundation Poll shows that public sentiment toward the healthcare reform bill is becoming more positive--or at least less negative. Opposition declined from 41 percent last month to 35 this month, while 50 percent viewed it favorably, up slightly from last month's 48 percent. Just after the bill was enacted in April, the poll found 46 percent in favor and 40 percent opposed, the bill's low point so far. President Obama has argued that the bill will become more popular as people come to understand the benefits the bill will bring to them. He and Democrats hope that revelation will occur before November.

Veteran CNN and NBC reporter Ken Bode reports that an anti-Semitic CD called “Rothschild’s Choice: Barack Obama and the Hidden Cabal Behind the Plot to Murder America” is being peddled at Indiana Tea Party events. Bode summarizes the argument as follows:

Obama is a Zionist puppet, goes the argument, supported by Timothy Geithner, Ben Bernanke, Barney Frank — all Jews, all part of the banking system, all tools of the conspiracy. “David Axelrod,” says the narrator, “That’s right, he had a Jewish campaign manager.”

You can read Bode's op-ed here.