By MIKE SMITH,AP Political Writer
INDIANAPOLIS — Three Republican Senate candidates are closing in on having enough petition signatures to qualify for Indiana's May primary ballot by next Tuesday's deadline, according to state report released Monday.
The Election Division report also showed no certified signatures yet for former Republican Sen. Dan Coats, who last week entered the race in hopes of winning the primary to challenge Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh.
Coats' spokesman Kevin Kellems said a team of volunteers began collecting signatures Friday.
"It's a big challenge," Kellems said. "I'm not trying to downplay it any. Gathering 500 certified signatures per congressional district in this kind of time frame is challenging, but it's going well. I can tell you that all systems are go."
Candidates must collect at least 500 signatures from registered voters in each of the state's nine congressional districts by Feb. 16 to get on the primary ballot.
Former Congressman John Hostettler, state Sen. Marlin Stutzman of Howe and Richmond financial adviser Don Bates Jr. all have at least hundreds of signatures in each district. But not all counties report their number of certified signatures early, so the numbers reflect a minimum of signatures so far.
Hostettler, Stutzman and Bates all had gathered at least 4,400 signatures statewide and had surpassed the 500 requirement in at least three districts.
Fishers businessman Richard Beyney also is seeking the GOP nomination and had surpassed the signature threshold in three congressional districts, but his overall total of 3,788 trailed numbers for Hostettler, Stutzman and Bates. The state report showed him with only 160 signatures in one district and 45 in another.
Figures showed Bayh with enough signatures in all but the state's 9th District in southern Indiana. But Dan Parker, chairman of the state Democratic Party, said several counties in the district do not provide early numbers.
He said he knew Bayh, who is seeking a third term and had nearly $13 million in campaign cash as of September, also had enough signatures in the 9th.
"We're ready to go," Parker said. "All he needs to do is file."
The deadline for that is Feb. 19.
The figures released Monday showed Hostettler had 4,910 signatures statewide and had reached the threshold in five of nine districts. He was at least over the halfway mark in the other counties.
Bates had enough signatures in four counties and a statewide total of 4,686, but also was over the halfway mark in the other counties.
Stutzman had a total of 4,450 signatures and enough in three counties, but had more than 400 in five of the remaining six counties.
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