Who is Tamyra d'Ippolito?

It seems that Indiana Democrats are convinced that the party will be selecting its nominee for the Senate seat of retiring Evan Bayh, given the unlikelihood that a candidate will be able to get the required signatures by tomorrow.  But not so fast.  There actually is another Democrat who has been trying to get on the November ballot.  From Talking Points Memo:

So, how is Tamyra d'Ippolito, a cafe owner in Bloomington, doing with collecting the 500 petition signatures in each of the state's nine House districts (a requirement that Bayh's campaign had already fulfilled, according to Democratic sources and published media reports)? The deadline to complete the filing process is this week.

On a phone call just now, d'Ippolito told me that she is not yet at the goal: "We're working feverishly here."

D'Ippolito said she is about 1,000 signatures short of the overall goal of 4,500, and is especially short in the 8th Congressional District, the area represented by Democrat Brad Ellsworth. Ideally she would like to get a few thousand more than the 4,500, in order to avoid missing out because of individual signatures getting disqualified over the errors that can pop up in this process.

Erick Erickson at Red State is appealing to Indiana conservatives to help put d'Ippolito on the ballot:

This could be fun. Democrats in Indiana are trying to clear the field for Brad Ellsworth to run in Evan Bayh’s spot.

Tamyra D’Ippolito is about 1000 votes short of getting her petition in for qualifying.

Those of you in Indiana should go out of your way to help Tamyra get the signatures she needs by tomorrow at noon.

Let’s help the Democrats have a contested primary too!

Erickson actually underestimates the drama.  If d'Ippolito qualifies tomorrow, she will be the Democratic nominee.  Any others will have to launch a write-in campaign.  This definitely could be fun.