As I wrote recently, I am among the millions of Twittering Americans. Each day, I post a few tidbits about Indiana politics on my account at the increasingly popular Twitter .com Web site, where, if you haven’t heard, you are allowed to write in bursts no longer than 140 characters.

Friday, I decided to bring a Twitter mentality to an Indiana General Assembly conference committee. The subject was the ongoing drama over a bailout for the Capital Improvement Board. Dozens of lobbyists lingered nearby as some of the state’s most powerful lawmakers prepared to begin House-Senate negotiations on the bill. The timing was interesting, as it came a day after the Indianapolis Colts issued a letter insisting they already have given enough and don’t see a need to help the CIB with its deficit.

Here are my Tweets:

2:25 p.m.Quick thought: Add up the salaries of all the lobbyists in the room and in the hallway, and you might have enough to cover the CIB deficit.

2:35 p.m.Mayor Greg Ballard walks in. I ask about the Colts’ letter. He doesn’t seem happy. “You’re either advancing the ball or you’re not,” he says.

2:36 p.m.I ask the mayor if he’d then consider the Colts’ letter a fumble. He smiles and doesn’t answer the question.

2:42 p.m.Rep. Phil GiaQuinta opens the meeting by doing what everyone does at the Statehouse: He gushes over Appropriations Chairman Luke Kenley.

2:50 p.m.Kenley takes a shot at the powerful booze lobby. It killed his plan to help cover the CIB deficit with a penny-per-beer tax increase.

2:57 p.m.Kenley notes the bill doesn’t include contributions from the Colts or Pacers. But he doesn’t take a shot at them.

3:09 p.m.Ballard begins his testimony, saying he wants a “wide array of options” to plug the CIB deficit. Lawmakers seem to want more specifics.

3:35 p.m.Asked about raising taxes for the CIB, Ballard ties it to convention business. “You have to spend money to make money,” he says.

3:45 p.m.Ballard concludes his testimony. He leaves, but we still don’t know how the legislature will solve the CIB problem.