Retired lt. col. elected mayor in Indianapolis

Retired lt. col. elected mayor in Indianapolis
By Ken Kusmer - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Nov 19, 2007 7:44:18 EST

INDIANAPOLIS — Greg Ballard just a few months ago was an obscure Republican mayoral nominee without a prayer, some scoffed, of unseating a well-funded, two-term incumbent.

Today, he’s the mayor-elect of the nation’s 13th-largest city, a tax opponent held up for admiration by President Bush, and a lesson to political incumbents everywhere of what can happen if they don’t mind the mood of the voters.

Ballard overcame little name recognition, a sizable mid-September polling deficit and a more than 12-to-1 fundraising disadvantage to pull off one of the biggest upsets in modern Indiana election history. He beat Democrat Bart Peterson 51 percent to 47 percent to become the first challenger in 40 years to unseat an Indianapolis mayor.

The 52-year-old retired Marine lieutenant colonel never doubted himself.

“I know half the city doesn’t believe it when I said I always believed. I mean, I always thought we were going to do this thing,” he said.

Ballard joined the Marine Corps after graduating from Indiana University. He earned a master’s degree in military science from Marine Corps University. He was stationed in California — where he met his future wife — Okinawa, and with European Command in Stuttgart, Germany, where he retired in 2001 after 23 years in the Corps.


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2007/11/ap_indymayor_071119/