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Two House Democrats Stepping Down

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Rep. Crooks just copied me on a press release indicating that he will not be running for re-election in 2008. Unfortunately, I’ve switched computers since then and I don’t have the document handy. Apparently his business is doing well and he would like to spend more time with his family. Normally these reasons are code for “I’m being forced out because of a scandal.” But, with Rep. Crooks, I’m pretty sure he really just has other pursuits in which he would like to engage. It’s a loss for the State, but I wish him well. Dave was a freshman legislator when I started at Legislative Services. As such, I don’t think he knew that I didn’t know anything. And, if he was similarly green, I didn’t recognize it either. So, he was one of my favorites on the House Commerce Committee. He has certainly come a long way since then in the legislature.

Also stepping down is Rep. Joe Micon who represents my district in Lafayette. Oddly, despite the geographic proxmity, I know less about Rep. Micon than I do about Rep. Crooks. Still, Rep. Micon seems to have represented my area well over the past three years. But, he says he feels stretched a little thin — he uses the analogy of a juggler spinning plates. So he won’t be running for re-election in 2008 either.

As has become the norm in Indiana over the past 15 years or more, the House is up for grabs. Just one more wrinkle in an already interesting 2008 election season. The Presidency is always of interest. Three freshmen Democrats in the U.S. House will be defending their seats. Barry Welsh is going to see if he can make a run at Mike Pence. Nels Ackerson looks to be a credible challenger against Steve Buyer. Julia Carson’s seat always seems to be a carnival of one sort or another. Governor Daniels looks vulnerable, at least against an as yet unnamed opponent. And, the House of Representatives will be a nail biter. At the least, it will be a good time to own media outlets that sell ad time to candidates. (Psst, my sidebar is for sale).

Hoosier Democrats cave on Bush eavesdropping bill

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I don’t suppose that anyone associated with Baron Hill, Joe Donnelly, or Brad Ellsworth read this blog and care to offer an explanation for their vote on the bill to increase Bush’s wiretap powers? Bush hasn’t shown himself to be trustworthy and is even taken to blocking members of his administration from testifying before Congress.

I’m sure these Democrats will tell us either that they thought it was necessary to help prevent terrorism or that they were afraid of being painted as weak on terror. As to the former reason: based on what? Because the Bush administration told you so? Until this administration shows that it is trustworthy with matters that don’t involve our civil liberties, don’t believe the administration when it tells you that Alberto Gonzales needs more power.

As for the latter reason, there is an easy response: This administration can’t be trusted with power. If they want to prove themselves trustworthy, perhaps they could start by complying with subpoenas and seeking treatment for their collective bout of Alzheimers disease whenever they’re testifying before Congress.

If there are other explanations, I’d like to hear them.

Buyer back to work after skiing accident

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The Indy Star has an article entitled Rep. Buyer hobbles back to work. He suffered a knee injury while skiing in December and has now returned to D.C. after undergoing physical therapy in Lafayette. I would have liked more detail on the nature of his injury just so I could compare his experience with my own. Back in January 2004, I suffered a knee injury of my own while skiing — it was a tibial plateau fracture. I believe I missed work for about a week.

It’s altogether possible his knee injury was more severe and actually necessitated him missing work for 5 or 6 weeks. The cynical side of me says that he was happy enough to miss votes on some of the popular but non-conservative bills the House Democrats moved forward in their “first 100 hours.”

It occurs to me that Mark Souder and Mike Pence must have been awfully lonely in Congress this past January. Their former colleagues, Chris Chocola, Mike Sodrel, and John Hostettler were voted out of office. Steve Buyer was laid up with a knee injury. And Dan Burton, aside from showing up to cast the lone vote against ethics reform and criticize investigation of the disappearance of billions of dollars, was out on the golf course. Their merry group of 7 had been reduced to 2.

2nd Place

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Just thought I’d take a look at how the second place finishers did in the Congressional Race. Here they are in order of vote percentage:

#1 – Eric Dickerson (IN-07) – 46.41%
#2 – Chris Chocola (IN-02) – 45.9%
#3 – Tom Hayhurst (IN-03) – 45.7%
#4 – Mike Sodrel (IN-09) – 44.85%  (Libertarian Eric Schansberg took 5%   of the vote in this race.)
#5 – Barry Welsh (IN-06) – 39.8%
#6 – John Hostettler (IN-08) – 39.33%
#7 – David Sanders (IN-04) – 35.33%
#8 – Katherine Fox Carr (IN-05) – 32.89%
#9 – Mark Leyva (IN-01) – 26.85%

Source: Indiana Secretary of State vote totals as of 11/9/06.

Notable in that list are Eric Dickerson and Tom Hayhurst for putting up such tough fights as challengers without notable support from their respective parties. Also notable is incumbent John Hostettler for getting waxed by such a large margin despite an immense amount of support from his party.

IN-02: Joe Donnelly Wins

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CNN is now projecting that Joe Donnelly will beat Chris Chocola in Indiana’s Second District. And now I see that the South Bend Tribune is reporting that Chris Chocola has conceded. Congratulations Joe. (And, if you’re reading, congratulations Dustin — thanks for dropping by with information on the Donnelly campaign throughout election season.)

Chocola inches up but still behind Donnelly

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James Wensits has some new poll numbers for the Donnelly/Chocola race. Hard telling if there’s real movement or if it’s just some static in the margin of error. Anyway, the recent poll shows Donnelly leading 50 to 45 as opposed to a prior poll that had Donnelly leading 50 to 42. Of course, as Chocola points out, it doesn’t really matter who the people prefer generally, it’s only the preference of those people who actually show up at the polls that matter.

Sunday round-up

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  • Niki Kelly, writing for the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, has an article entitled Secretary of State race poised to make, break Daniels’ agenda. The article notes that, in the event of a 50/50 tie in the Secretary of State race, the winner determines who will control the chamber. I can’t remember how the provision is written — whether the Secretary of State casts the vote, or whether the party holding the Secretary’s office is the party that will control the House. If it’s the latter, things could get very interesting if Libertarian Mike Kole were to win. Obviously Libertarians have a tough road in any campaign, but Mr. Kole has probably put forth the most credible challenge in a statewide race of any Libertarian in recent memory. Meanwhile, the Journal Gazette’s editorial board endorses Democratic challenger Joe Pearson for the position.
  • The Indianapolis Star issues endorsements for the 9 Congressional Districts. IN-01: Pete Visclosky, incumbent; IN-02: Joe Donnelly, challenger; IN-03: Mark Souder; IN-04: Steve Buyer, incumbent; IN-05: Dan Burton, incumbent; IN-06: Mike Pence, incumbent; IN-07: Julia Carson; IN-08: Brad Ellsworth; IN-09: Mike Sodrel. For those keeping score, that’s an endorsement of 7 incumbents versus two challengers. So, let’s not hear any future wailing and moaning by the Star about how it’s gerrymandering that keeps incumbent retention at a ridiculously high rate. (Particularly galling in my quick read was this: “it’s Buyer’s work on veterans issues, along with his fiscal conservatism, that wins The Star’s endorsement.” Had the Star editorial board actually been following that race, they’d know that Buyer’s record on veteran’s issues is sketchy. If they’d been looking at the federal deficit while Buyer and friends have been in control, they’d know his fiscal conservatism is sketchy as well. But, I’m sure there are other gems in that string of endorsements that deserve my abuse as well.)
  • Thomas Langhorne, writing for the Evansville Courier Press has an article entitled Ellsworth widens lead in poll. An Indiana State University follow up poll commissioned by the Courier Press showed Ellsworth with 55% compared to Hostettler’s 32%. Langhorne also reports that 2/3 of likely voters supporting Ellsworth are motivated by a desire to see Democrats control the House or to see Hostettler defeated.
  • The Courier Press also has an editorial digging into the byzantine mechanics of Congressional pay raises and concludes that the waters are muddy but Hostettler had a chance to get at the pay raise for an up or down vote and declined the chance.
  • The Lafayette Journal and Courier has an editorial entitled “Democrats look to gain seats, control.” The paper does not take any particular position but describes the issues that have voters in a bad mood with respect to Republicans and have Democrats apparently in a better electoral position than they have been in years past.
  • Lesley Stedman Weidenbener has an article looking at attack mail flooding mailboxes in Indiana’s 9th District.
  • Steve Walsh, writing for the Gary Post Tribune has an article on Indiana’s Second Congressional District entitled “District election a dead heat.” I guess it’s true, the media wants a horse race, not a blow out. Because, the “dead heat” headline seems to come from the Chocola campaign’s statement that they had polls showing the race to be a dead heat, as opposed to a recent South Bend Tribune poll showing Donnelly to have a 10 point lead.

  • Speaking of horse races, Sylvia Smith has an opinion column entitled “A lot can happen before election day.” Democrats, she said, should not be too confident, and Republicans should not be too discouraged.