The biggest political surprise of the new year? House Speaker Pat Bauer playing bipartisan-nice with Gov. Mitch Daniels on property tax legislation, while members of Daniels' own party appeared poised to fight the governor (and any number of analysts) by pushing for elimination of property taxes for homeowners.

As fluid as that situation will be in the next couple of weeks, I'm going to refrain from devoting much space to something that will be out of date by the time Gazette readers see it. Instead, here's some thoughts on other political goings-on. With the Colts out of the playoffs, we might as well watch politics.

A couple of weeks isn't a very long time for anyone at a new job, so it's hard to say much one way or another about the mayor's office headed by Greg Ballard. With only 10 major staff positions filled so far, though, it's safe to say Ballard's right when he says it will take several weeks before his office is up to full speed.

The staffers announced so far bring some impressive experience to the table. It would be hard to find someone more knowledgeable about the challenges facing Indianapolis' neighborhoods than Olgen Williams, who was appointed deputy mayor for neighborhoods. Williams has been making a difference in Haughville for years; it's exciting to think about what he will bring to neighborhoods that have less severe, yet still significant, issues.

Ballard tapped former Marion County Prosecutor Scott Newman as Director of Public Safety. Although out of the political fray for a few years, Newman is the kind of person that both Democrats and Republicans will likely feel comfortable working with as Ballard attempts to shift control of the police force to his office.

Ballard has also taken a page from Bart Peterson's playbook by raiding the Statehouse for top talent, just as Peterson brought over several staffers from then-Gov. Evan Bayh's administration. Ballard's director of Latino affairs, corporation counsel, chief of staff, press secretary and city controller are all current or former Statehouse employees.

Given the budget challenges Ballard faces in living up to his campaign promises, he's going to need all the help he can get from veterans of Mitch "The Blade" Daniels' administration. Don't be surprised if Ballard gets creative with raising money and cutting costs, continuing the privatization trend started by former Mayor Steve Goldsmith.

This will likely further alienate a core group of Ballard's supporters who played a big part in his election to the office. There's a perception that since the election, Ballard has neglected his most vocal supporters-many of whom live in the Broad Ripple and Meridian-Kessler neighborhoods-and instead cozied up to the city's big business and political insiders.

However, running the country's 13th-largest city is big business. And it is political. To his credit, Ballard recognized that it would have been difficult to get anything accomplished out of the starting gate without some big names by his side.

On March 11, 2008, we'll turn out to vote for someone to complete Julia Carson's term representing Indiana's Seventh District in the US House of Representatives. Less than two months later, we'll vote in the primary for someone to carry out the next term, beginning in 2009.

It'll be interesting to see what kind of campaign the candidates run for this seat, both in the special election and the primary. Will the primary election be a guaranteed repeat of the special election? It's not as if the winner of the special election will have accumulated much experience, good or bad, by the May 6 primary.

And while I've learned my lesson about predicting elections, I will say it's going to take a well-planned and executed campaign to counter the kind of emotional backing that Andre Carson has. Plus, with Carson frequently speaking and appearing on behalf of his grandmother in recent years, he may be more familiar to voters than any other candidate.

The question is, will enough of Julia's extremely devoted constituency believe her grandson will pick up her torch? And, will people who might have avoided voting in the all-but-locked-up Seventh District contest in recent years see this year as a chance to make their voices heard?