The Journal Gazette has an editorial entitled Voter disgust may prod Roemer to run. I don’t see much to disagree with in this editorial. They note the general disgust the American public has with Congress generally and the feeling that the country is headed in the wrong direction. They note that the Republicans came into power in 1994 primarily running against Democratic corruption. The corruption, said the GOP, was the result of being in power for too long. Tom DeLay seems hell bent on becoming the modern day poster child for proving that point.
Based on this sense, there is some rumbling about Tim Roemer running against Dick Lugar for his Senate seat. However, the paper points out, displeasure with Congress generally is a whole lot different than displeasure with a particular Senator. A recent poll had Sen. Lugar running at 70%. I imagine that number has come down a bit based on Sen. Lugar’s willingness to rubber stamp Bush’s nomination of John Bolton, the undiplomatic, anti-UN (and seemingly incompetent based on past job performance) nominee for the position of UN ambassador.
The paper also notes that Roemer would be unwise to pursue an anti-corruption campaign if running against Lugar, who is apparently squeaky-clean on that front. On the other hand, Roemer might point out that the majority Lugar contributes to makes possible corruption based on entrenched power. The South Bend Tribune has a similar opinion piece that assesses Roemer’s prospects in pretty much the same light, but then goes on to note a couple of notable Senate upsets in Indiana history: Birch Bayh over Home Capehart, then Dan Quayle over Birch Bayh.
But, regardless of Roemer’s prospects, it would be a luxury for the people of Indiana to have a choice of two competent individuals for Senator, both well-versed in policy issues.
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