Every Tom, Dick and recorder candidate decorates Clark County with campaign signs.
Meanwhile, the race that could matter most is being run in the dark.
On Nov. 7 Clark County voters can agree to be host to a casino boat, which would jolt the economy like nothing else can. Yet One Southern Indiana is one mute group of business boosters on the prospect. A boat would end up in Clarksville or in Jeffersonville. Yet neither community rolls out a red carpet even as it would for a Dairy Queen.
At a time when these groups and governments should lead, they are instead on the sidelines. Rather than risk upsetting somebody, they inspire nobody. Their reluctance is as if virgins, not paychecks, would be sacrificed at the river.
The public's endorsement guarantees nothing. It is hypothetical. A string of dominoes still must fall over for a boat actually to dock in Clark County. Which is the stated reason why its potential proponents choose not to stoke the fires. Why fight when meaningful victory may prove hopeless?
"At this point, there doesn't appear to be any possibility," said Jim Keith, executive director of the convention and tourism bureau.
"It's hard to get excited about that," said Paul Kraft, president of the Clarksville Town Council.
Democrats supposedly worry that the referendum will fire up conservatives to oppose it, and that might benefit Republicans. But Rod Pate, the Democratic chairman in Clark, furthers instead the why-bother philosophy.
"Most people realize it (a casino) is almost as elusive as the Easter bunny," he said.
Once a casino for Clark County is possible, though, momentum is probable. The success of gambling across from downtown Louisville is too much a sure thing.
Enticing for an existing boat to move? One, the Grand Victoria in Ohio County by Cincinnati, is for sale. Enticing for the state to award an additional license? Lawmakers could opt for such a high-dollar revenue shot over a tax increase.
Good questions, these are, and worthy of the debate and exploration that the current stealth campaign fails to offer. Even anti-gambling churchgoers softball their sell. They have no one with whom to argue.
"I have no idea how people will react," said Ed Feigenbaum, editor of the Indiana Gaming Insight newsletter.
Feigenbaum guessed that there would be a higher profile -- some profile -- for Clark's boat vote. After all, a casino really could materialize. It's not likely for now, Feigenbaum said, "but it's real fun to pontificate."
As did Floyd County, Clark rejected riverboat gambling twice in the 1990s. By law, it has had to wait a decade for another try. In the meantime, Harrison County has undergone a most-impressive ultimate makeover with its cut of the take from the Caesars Indiana casino.
Better roads, schools, firetrucks, water works, Little League diamonds, you name it -- prosperity like Harrison's could be in Clark's sights. Only Caesars itself might have more to lose.
The casino company could be appeased, however, by being allowed to branch out into Clark. Preposterous, perhaps. But Feigenbaum reminds that this is uncharted territory. History is to be made.
"A lot of people are sitting back, saying 'Let's just wait and see what the new environment is going to be,' " Feigenbaum said.
Walter Schulz, a dedicated foe of the casinos, is afraid to equate a lack of loud boat boosters for a lack of boosters. Schulz asks people on his side not to be lulled into overconfidence.
"You never know," he said.
