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Brizzi beats Kennedy after intense race
11/8/2006
By Jon Murray
The Indianapolis Star
In nail-biter finish, incumbent prosecutor holds on to Republicans' last county office
While Republicans lost several local offices Tuesday night, Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi held on to his party's last countywide post.
It was a nail-biter for his Democratic challenger, Melina Kennedy, who watched for four hours as Brizzi's double-digit lead slowly eroded.
But in the end, there weren't enough votes from Democratic strongholds to prevent Brizzi's re-election.
Kennedy conceded with 92.4 percent of the precincts counted. Brizzi's lead was just under 4 percentage points.
"Moments ago I called my opponent, Carl Brizzi, to encourage him to continue the hard work," Kennedy said. "I wish my opponent the best."
Brizzi, who will serve a second term, greeted party supporters after his talk with Kennedy.
"Today the voters declared that experience matters," said Brizzi, surrounded by his family onstage.
It was the costliest Marion County prosecutor's race on record. The campaigns drew in $3.8 million combined -- though Brizzi always led in the money race, raising more than twice as much as Kennedy.
During the campaign, Brizzi and Kennedy, the former deputy mayor to Bart Peterson, sparred over experience, Brizzi's record and their approaches to fighting gangs.
Brizzi established a simple campaign theme early by criticizing Kennedy's lack of experience prosecuting cases. He worked as a deputy prosecutor during the 1990s before running for prosecutor in 2002.
Kennedy responded by calling for a change in leadership over the office of 168 deputy prosecutors. She pointed to rising crime rates and decreasing conviction rates under Brizzi compared with those of his predecessor and mentor, Republican Scott Newman.
But analyst Brian Vargus said Kennedy's campaign struggled in the final weeks to counter Brizzi's experience theme, despite her extensive government experience.
"Brizzi was so quick to identify himself as the experienced crimefighter," said Vargus, a political science professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
Brizzi's campaign manager, Matthew Symons, praised Kennedy's aggressiveness Tuesday afternoon.
"It's been very clear that Melina has worked very hard," he said. "She's done an excellent job of getting out there and visiting the neighborhoods."
Call Star reporter Jon Murray at (317) 444-2752.
Copyright 2006 IndyStar.com. All rights reserved
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