Tony Samuel Joins!

Nigel (0:02)

Yes, Nigel here, Hammer here, Coach's Tavern, The Hammer and Nigel Road Show, here on a thirsty Thursday, Coach's Tavern downtown Indianapolis, just Caddy Corner on Pennsylvania, across from the Field House. And Hammer here with a very special in studio, on location, at the table guests.

Hammer (0:25)

In-bar guests, right? That's what we love again, in-bar guests.

Every week at this time, we talk a little Indiana government with Tony Samuel, Samuel Solutions Group. And look, if we're going to talk Indiana government and make this entertaining, we're going to need a little help. So we're going to have a little shot here. It's a big shot. Special guest joining us, Ms. Kelly, lean into the YouTube camera, say hi to the masses here.

Nigel (0:49)

There she is, the special lady.

Hammer (0:52)

Last time we saw Kelly, she was looking disgusted at us as we were getting out of a hot tub at the home show.

Nigel (0:58)

I remember that.

Hammer (0:59)

Up at Grand Park. But what do we have here, Mr. Samuel?

Tony Samuel (1:04)

We've got a big shot of Buffalo Trace. Buffalo Trace.

Hammer (1:08)

We always hang in a Buffalo Trace. All right, here we go. On the count of three. One, two, three.

Tony Samuel (1:13)

Cheers, everybody. Cheers, everybody.

Nigel (1:20)

Oh, that was smooth. Smooth, smooth.

I love it when Tony goes smooth.

Hammer (1:31)

Oh, come on, Kelly.

Tony Samuel (1:33)

Come on, Kelly.

Nigel (1:35)

She didn't finish her whole one.

Hammer (1:37)

All right.

Tony Samuel (1:37)

We'll leave that one on the table.

Nigel (1:39)

We'll take care of it, Kelly.

Hammer (1:42)

Tony Samuel, million dollar question. What did you think of the Secretary of State debate last night?

Tony Samuel (1:48)

Well, it started off kind of boring, and it ended that way. Good night, everybody.

Nigel (1:56)

I was waiting for someone to say it.

Hammer (1:58)

Moving on.

Tony Samuel (2:00)

What would have made it fun is if they had Diego Morales up there, because you got to say his last name like that.

Hammer (2:06)

Sure.

Tony Samuel (2:07)

Just to answer the attacks from Bo Baj because they were relentless, and Diego is not going to be in office anymore because Max Engeling took care of that by winning the state convention, and that was the whole purpose of Max winning the state convention, because the party and Republicans in general weren't satisfied with the job that Diego was doing. So he's out. Those controversies are over. Max is going to come in, run the office like it should be run in. So all of Bo Baj's attacks are kind of pointless, but that's what consultants will tell him to do, and he's pretty stiff, very, very boring and robotic.

Hammer (2:43)

But does the average voter, does the average person walk up and down Pennsylvania Street and go bar to bar? If you walk in and talk to them, do they know that Diego is not on the ballot? Do they know who Diego is? Do they know these commercials that Bo Baj is talking about cutting taxes? It's not going to happen because that's not the job of the Secretary of State.

Tony Samuel (3:05)

Most of them, I would guess, don't know what the top race on the ticket is.

Some might not even care that there's an election because we know the turnout for all voters, Republican and Democrat, is much lower in the midterms than it is in the general. If they are paying attention and they have seen the ads, then they might fall for what Bo Baj is selling. And that's the concern that Republicans should have, and that's the reason they should get out and vote, is because you've got these political consultants saying, oh, this is what polls high, and it's a data center. So now, if you've seen his latest ad, he's standing in front of a data center saying he won't, you know, he's opposed to data centers or something like that because that's the buzzword and that's what people are afraid of and what pollsters and consultants will tell you to talk about, even though it has nothing to do with his office or cutting taxes.

Nigel (3:55)

So that's the strategy.

Tony Samuel (3:57)

That's his strategy. Yeah, it's and really that's it is to fool the public and by the election with three and a half million dollars being spent on TV ads.

Hammer (4:06)

Did Max Engeling last night, and this is where Brian Alvey and I had a disagreement earlier.

Did Max Engeling do enough to bring up the fact that I'm not Diego Morales. I beat him in the primary. You can bitch and moan all you want about Diego Morales, but you're not running against him. You're running against the dude that replaced him. I don't think Max did that well enough last night.