Oof, here is a pretty bad gaffe by Jill Long Thompson. She ran an ad attacking Jim Schellinger for profiting from the construction of schools funded by property taxes. Trouble is, her photographer for the ad took pictures of the wrong schools. In fact, a couple of the schools were designed by one of her supporters. That’s gonna leave a mark.

Governor Daniels has raised some eyebrows by saying it’s “time to let Reagan go.”

“Nostalgia is fine and Reagan’s economic plan was good,” Daniels said. “But we need to look towards the future rather than staying in the past.”

Every now and again (most notably shortly before an election), Governor Daniels says some sensible things. Limbaugh is apparently pissed off and the conservative crowd to which Daniels was speaking did not react too kindly to his suggestion.

The thing is, modern day Republicans have made quite a fetish of Ronald Reagan. His myth is barely recognizable when compared to the reality. For example, he is supposedly some sort of model of small government and fiscal responsibility. We must never speak of his skyrocketing government spending or of his tax increases. Why the social conservatives get behind him is confusing. The guy was a divorcee who rarely, if ever, went to church. There were some good things about Reagan, of course — he couldn’t have maintained his popularity otherwise. By and large, he made Americans feel good about themselves again after a period where there had been a lot of self-doubt.

Daniels is probably right that the devotion to Reagan is limiting the Republican Party at this point. During the GOP primaries, each candidate was trying to out-Reagan the others. Even if you think Reagan was the best President ever, there still has to be recognition that the man was a product of his times, and the policies he championed for those times might not be the appropriate policies for the future. This notion probably makes perfect sense to a practical guy like Daniels. But, to idealogues convinced that Reagan was some sort of secular prophet, the notion that Reagan’s policies weren’t eternal truths is a sort of heresy. Let the crucifixions begin.

Niki Kelly, writing for the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, has an article on the Democratic primary debate. Apparently the public generally is as inexplicably apathetic as I am about the race. The debate hall was only half full. Sounds like Long Thompson was more intent on slinging mud. Schellinger was noncommittal on abortion rights — saying abortion wasn’t his cup of tea, but he wouldn’t work to make it illegal if he were governor. Whether he would veto or work against anti-abortion legislation wasn’t clear.

Gov. Daniels privatization of public assets was something they could agree on. Schellinger rightly notes that government isn’t a business and can’t be run like one without failing its fundamental purpose. Long Thompson likened the sale of the Toll Road to selling the farm to buy a combine.

The Democratic Gubernatorial Debate is tonight at 7 p.m. That’d be right now, presuming I get this posted immediately. Why can’t I bring myself to care? I ought to care. The future of the State could be significantly affected by which one of these candidates gets the nomination.

Maybe, at some level, it’s been so long since I’ve rooted for a state or federal executive candidate who won that I’ve grown apathetic and Obama is sucking out what little energy I have for this kind of thing. Fortunately, while I am old and tired; Thomas is young and energetic.

Interesting idea from gubernatorial hopeful, Jill Long Thompson, for a tiered system of economic development incentives. I’m not sure whether I agree or disagree, but it shows she’s putting some thought into these issues.

Every Indiana county would be placed into one of three tiers based upon a county’s unemployment rate, median household income, population growth and assessed property value per capita.

For an incentive, companies would have to provide “good-paying jobs,” which Thompson said are jobs that pay above the county average wage, and offer health insurance, paying at least 50 percent of the health-insurance premiums.

Under the plan, “tier 1” counties would be eligible for a $3,500 tax credit per new job with a requirement of creating at least five jobs and receive a 7 percent tax credit for eligible business property costs; “tier 2” counties would receive a $2,500 tax credit per new job with at least 10 jobs created and a 5 percent tax credit for eligible business property costs of more than $1 million.

A “tier 3” county would receive a $1,000 tax credit per new job with at least 15 jobs created and a 3.5 percent tax credit for eligible business property costs of more than $2 million.

In addition, companies cannot owe back taxes and cannot have received a significant environmental violation notice from the state within the previous five years.

Update The Schellinger campaign is apparently critical of this tiered plan, suggesting that it would have the effect of pitting county against county. He also suggests that tax incentives aren’t typically the most important criteria for prospective employers. Instead, such employers are usually concerned about the area’s quality of life, the quality of its education system, and the quality of its workforce.

Further, the campaign suggests that the plan may place further strains on local government financing specifically and have unintended consequences generally. Instead, Mr. Schellinger is promoting his

Instead, he is promoting his “Pick Up Indiana” jobs plan. There is a fair amount of detail at the linked site which I don’t have time to read at the moment, but the 3 overarching components of the plan seem to be: 1) Increase workforce skills training; 2) Work with small businesses; and 3) Promote economic development through “green collar” jobs.

Niki Kelly has an article about the Governor’s race in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. Apparently Governor Daniels is running an ad where he brags about balancing the budget without raising taxes. In unrelated news, the sales tax is going up 16% today and tolls on the Toll Road are going up 58%. Oh, and tax caps are going to put the beleaguered Carroll County in even worse shape.

The Journal Gazette article also discusses Jill Long Thompson’s new ad. Apparently she takes a shot at Daniels for “selling state assets to foreign companies.” In my opinion, Gov. Daniels deserves all the abuse his opponents can dish out over privatizing the toll road; but does the “foreign companies” angle really add much? I don’t think I’d be any happier if the Toll Road had been sold to a domestic company.

Via MyDD (Indiana ranked as 3rd most competitive gubernatorial race):

3. Indiana (Gov. Daniels; Previous ranking: 2)

Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels is certainly unpopular and vulnerable, but it is difficult to precisely assess the general election before Democrats settle their nomination race on May 6th. Architect Jim Schellinger has been the establishment’s favored candidate and has far outraised his opposition, but former Rep. Jill Long Thompson could emerge the winner due to higher name recognition. The Indianapolis Star reports that Schellinger’s campaign has been a disappointment while Thompson has been very active and that his fundraising edge could be drowned amidst the presidential race if Clinton and Obama spend millions in ads here in the next few weeks.