(H/t Blue Indiana) Nels Ackerson, who is running in the Democratic primary to challenge Steve Buyer in Indiana’s 4th District has his website up.
According to his on the issues page, Mr. Ackerson favors:
Principled leadership to end partisan politics.
Government accountability.
Stronger national security.
A new course in Iraq.
Fixing education.
Affordable, quality health care.
New energy solutions.
Care for our veterans.
Reviving economic opportunity.
Protecting individual, constitutional rights.
Thumbs up! I like all of those things! But, I suppose most critical thinkers would also want to know Mr. Ackerson’s reasons and the means by which he proposes to achieve these things. So, if you’re a 4th District voter (or even if you’re not), you might want to head on over and take a look.
What will it take for a Democrat to beat Buyer? Revelations about his personal morals that conflict with his hypocritical public persona? Financial scandals?
How do you bring down a guy who was reelected by veterans while gutting veterans’ services in his committee? A guy who claims military experience as his hallmark (remember those damn boots from Iraq I –he was a military lawyer!) and yet has supported every hairbrained idea in this current war– even suggesting we use a “small” tactical nuclear weapon in Afghanistan to blast out Osama.
So long as he wears the R in the 4th District, he can do no wrong.
It’d be interesting to see someone with some campaign money take a run at Buyer. I don’t think Buyer’s ever faced a well-financed Democratic opponent.
Even if the voters agree with you on every issue, you have to have a loud voice to be heard; particularly if you are a Democrat in the 4th District. I suspect if you canvassed the 4th District voters from 2004 and 2006, they wouldn’t really know what Prof. Sanders’ stance was on most (if any) issues.
In the name of hearsay, I might note that based on what I have heard from a Republican, of all people, a scandal involving Buyer’s “personal morals” isn’t at all out of the question.
I think he is vulnerable, but the district is long and meandering, and it will take a sizable campaign fund to get the message out to every corner of the fourth. Here’s to hoping that this can be the year that Buyer gets booted.
Hmm’s got it wrong. I can’t count the number of my fellow Republicans who are tired of Buyer’s arrogance and his absolute adherence to whatever the current administration tells him to do.
Buyer has been in office for 15 years and been in the majority a great bulk of the time – but Government has grown larger and federal deficits have blossomed.
If you want real fiscal conservatism – you better start looking at the candidate not the party.
To answer the question of what it will take, it’s simple: money.
I can tell you first hand that appearnace don’t mean a thing. If you don’t spend a lot of money on TV ads, you aren’t going anywhere… except home.
Republican for Ackerson– God, I hope you are right. I lived in White County for MANY years and know that it’s harder to find a Dem there than a same-sex couple. But Buyer in person is just about the most arrogant man I’ve ever seen. Of course we RARELY see him in Lafayette, the largest city in his district, because we’re way too liberal for him. HA!
This district was carved for him. But any combination of things would have to happen to defeat him. And yes, I hinted at the peccadillo, because I’ve heard credible stories for years. Yes, he has angered some groups which could be brought to bear.
BUT ultimately it comes down to money. Can you defeat that money machine?
Buyer isn’t the greatest money machine in the world, so he can be overcome. You have to recall the contests in IN-8 & IN-9 that so interested Dems across the country. Much of the money that turned those races into winners came from outside of Indiana, but it came because those contests were seen as ‘winnable’.
As soon as Nels is seen as someone who can win by virtue of his fundraising here in Indiana, AND his race winnable, the DNC and other national money can start to flow. When that happens, Nels can absolutely win.
I think Nels’s fundraisers should make the point that the race is winnable as a mantra. It would grease the skids.
I’ve known Nels for nearly 20 years and while he and I don’t agree on everything, he is one of the most principled men I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. I am not an Indiana resident but I am a Vietnam vet and a confirmed fiscal conservative. Were I to live in what Nels thinks as God’s country, I know who I’d support. You folks have that opportunity – good luck to you! His new website can accept contributions and I know he’d like to receive yours, small or large!
Doug, those are the most benign, non-threatening “ideas” that candidates can say they are “for.” Really, who would be against any of those ideas? “No, what we really need is a weaker national security. Let the terrorists attack us – we deserve it!” “Our education system is fine as it is – everyone knows math is, like, soooo hard!”