The Lafayette Journal & Courier had an article a few days ago primarily focused on the upcoming match up in the 4th Congressional District between 8 term incumbent, Steve Buyer and Westfield attorney Nels Ackerson. Ackerson sports an impressive resume and the ability to raise money that might give Buyer his first serious challenge; though it’ll be tough sledding in the heavily Republican Fourth District.

Other races in Indiana will be:

IN-01: Pete Visclosky versus Mark Leyva. Hard to think Visclosky is vulnerable.
IN-02: Joe Donnelly versus Luke Puckett. I think Tony Zirkle got like 5,000 votes.
IN-03: Mark “term limits” Souder versus Mike Montagano.
IN-05: Dan Burton v. Mary Etta Ruley.
IN-06: Mike Pence v. Barry Welsh.
IN-07: Andre Carson v. John Elrod.
IN-08: Brad Ellsworth v. Greg Goode.
IN-09: Baron Hill v. Mike Sodrel. The re-re-re-match. It’s like Groundhog’s Day down there.

Brad Ellsworth (D IN-08) (Phone: (202) 225-4636, Fax: (202) 225-3284) is apparently one of the House Democrats who supports the lack of accountability for Bush’s wiretapping schemes. Here is a pretty even-handed account of the differences between the Senate version and the House version. Democrats like Ellsworth want to abandon the House version in favor of the Senate version. Among other things, the Senate version gives telecommunications companies retroactive immunity for participating in the Bush administration’s NSA warrantless spying on U.S. citizens.

In Indiana’s Eighth Congressional District, self-employed, Internet-based contractor Paul Abramson has entered the primary to represent the Republicans to challenge Congressman Brad Ellsworth who defeated John Hostettler in 2006.

Abramson said this morning that he attended the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. over the weekend. The annual political conference attracts thousands of conservative activists, members of Congress and other elected officials. This year, President Bush and several presidential candidates spoke at the gathering.

“I’m campaigning on the Culture War of values,” Abramson said. “Our society is split, and the good guys are losing at this time.”

Abramson will challenge Greg Goode for the Republican nomination. I’m not sure what “culture war of values” might mean, and I won’t necessarily fault Mr. Abramson because it’s often not possible to fully explain one’s self in a brief newspaper article. But, to me, the value-free phrase “culture war of values” means mixing church & state, hating gays, and loving life before birth and after brain death but not in between. I’d love to find out I’m wrong about those things.

Maureen Groppe has an article in the Louisville Courier Journal entitled “Congress’ Hoosiers Showed Independence in ’07.” But that headline is not entirely accurate. Indiana’s House Republicans — Pence, Burton, Buyer, and Souder — were not notable for their bipartisan efforts.

On the other hand, Bayh, Hill, Donnelly, Ellsworth, and Lugar were noted for crossing party lines from time to time. No word on Carson or Visclosky, though Carson didn’t do much in the way of voting last year and Visclosky presumably voted Democratic like his counterparts Pency, Burton, Buyer, and Souder.

The article mentions that Bayh broke with his party to allow the government to conduct warrantless surveillance in the United States, and to vote against a requirement that utilities get some of their power from renewable resources. Hill, Donnelly, and Ellsworth also voted for warrantless government wiretaps and against children’s health care. Good going, guys.

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.

Via MyDD, Indiana’s Baron Hill (IN-09), Brad Ellsworth (IN-08), and Joe Donnelly (IN-02) are among Karl Rove’s top 20 Democratic targets for 2008. Not really surprising I guess. After the first term is the best shot you have at unseating an incumbent.