The original version of Jill Long Thompson’s new attack ad originally showed a school that wasn’t designed by CSO Architects (Jim Schellinger’s firm) when the announcer accuses Schellinger of lobbying school districts to hike property taxes.

Jeff Harris of the Thompson campaign says campaign staffers discovered the error and changed it.  Photographers, he says, shot the wrong schools by mistake.

Jennifer Wagner of the Schellinger campaign called the whole episode “ridiculous.”  She says the first school shown was designed by an architect who donated to Thompson (Wayne Schmidt) and that she got caught in an attempt to mislead voters.

And you thought this Democratic primary for governor wouldn’t get negative and petty.

We’ll have numbers in the Jill Long Thompson/Jim Schellinger matchup at 6pm on 24 Hour News 8.

With any luck you saw last night’s numbers showing Hillary Clinton at 49% and Barack Obama at 46% in Indiana.

We also shared some background polling that shows Hillary strong among older voters and white voters, while Obama is even stronger among black voters and young voters.

There wasn’t room in the story for a couple of questions:

Which candidate has run the most positive campaign?  Obama 31%  Clinton 25%

Which candidate has run the most negative campaign?  Obama 21%  Clinton 44%

The Indiana poll was conducted by Research 2000 from Monday to Wednesday.  Its a sample of 400 likely Democratic voters with a margin of error of 5%.

Big changes for Jennifer Wagner.

The communications director at the Indiana Democratic Party took a similar position with the Schellinger campaign (replacing the departed Robert Kellar.)

Wagner says its time to put up or shut up.

It means that her popular blog “Taking Down Words” will be taken over by others.  She is still looking for someone to fill the gap at her other blog, the one with the catchy name, “Accidental Mayor.”

Good luck to Jennifer.

Robert Kellar, the new communications director for the Jim Schellinger campaign (who passed out a cell phone number with a California area code) is now the old communications director for the campaign.

Spokesperson Candace Martin says Kellar has an opportunity he can’t pass up.

It’s in California.

Jill Long Thompson told a Statehouse news conference today that she will have statewide television ads on the air “soon.”

When asked to comment on ads by her opponent in the Democratic gubernatorial nomination battle, Jim Schellinger, she first said that she doesn’t comment on ads by others and then commented.

“I’m reminded of the Seinfeld episode, ” she said.  “Its all about nothing.”

Willie Sutton robbed banks because that’s where the money is.  Political campaigns buy ads in election coverage because that’s where the voters are.

That’s why Andre Carson ads showed up in cable news coverage of the Presidential primaries last night.  And because the coverage focused on the Democratic battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and therefore likely attracted more Democratic viewers, it was a good spot to launch a negative attack on Republican Jon Elrod. 

By the way, the Carson campaign folks want to point out that their Bayh endorsement ad is paid for by the campaign and not the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. 

But tell me this: with a campaign manager and a press secretary supplied by the DCCC and donors directed to them by the DCCC funding the campaign, where do you draw the line?

Meantime, look for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Schellinger to launch his TV ads during special election coverage of the Carson/Elrod race next Tuesday.

Jill Long Thompson set up camp in state Senate Minority Leader Richard Young’s office during session today.  The Democratic candidate for governor came in search of endorsements from Senators in her primary race against Jim Schellinger.

On the way out she wouldn’t confirm any pickups saying, “Well, we’ll see.”  She said an announcement will come when the time is right adding, “We like to do things in bunches.”  She was smiling.

“He’s alive!”

That the comment of one House staffer prompted by a Jim Schellinger appearance at the House of Representatives this afternoon.  The Democratic candidate for governor showed up prior to the opening gavel today to meet and greet with lawmakers, staff, and lobbyists.

It tells me that Schellinger understands one of his challenges.  Speaker Pat Bauer and the 50 other Democratic members of the Indiana House care more about keeping the majority than they do about winning back the governor’s office.  Schellinger needs their support and help if he hopes to defeat Jill Long Thompson in the May primary for the chance to unseat Republican Mitch Daniels.

A little higher visibility won’t hurt, either.

Production began today on TV ads for Democratic candidate for governor Jim Schellinger.  The Marion County Democratic Party helped recruit extras for four location shoots today and tomorrow.  (Party spokesman Terry Burns says they would do the same thing for Jill Long Thompson.)

The locations are Shapiro’s downtown (a memo to extras tells them to dress casually and bring two shirts, light and dark), the Ironworkers Apprentice shop near the airport (work clothes, no logos), Schellinger’s architectural office (business casual attire), and a classroom at Cathedral High School (business casual again.)

The campaign won’t say when the ads will hit the air.

Meantime, look for Andre Carson to launch ads for his Congressional bid as soon as next week.