Updating Republicans Hold Onto Top State Offices. Why?

Yesterday John Ketzenbarger wrote Voters sought change; Mitch got the nod which I did not see until today but does fit into my post Republicans Hold Onto Top State Offices. Why?.

House Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, and Daniels have developed a grudging mutual respect in the last four years. Case in point: privatizing the Hoosier Lottery. After Bauer objected, Daniels offered to bond against lottery proceeds to raise the money for college scholarships instead, an idea with more appeal to Bauer.

That give and take is important. Indiana needs progressive leadership to remake the state's economy and re- educate its work force, said John Mutz, a former lieutenant governor. "I won't say it's desperate, but this is a crucial moment in the economic history of the state," Mutz said.

Hence the desire for change.

"Some (change) will be good and some may be difficult," said Frank Hancock, the owner and chief executive of Sport Graphics. "But if it gets the country all headed in the right direction, (with) everyone better working together, it will be good for all, regardless of owning a business or working for one."

The voters knew what they were doing.

Republicans Hold Onto Top State Offices. Why?

Just in case, no one else knows State schools leader, AG chosen means Republican wins:

"Both races were close: Bennett had 51 percent of the vote in his race while Zoeller earned just over 50 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results tabulated by The Associated Press.

The GOP typically has an advantage in Indiana. Republican candidates may have also benefited from voter support for Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, who easily won re-election Tuesday, said James McCann, a political science professor at Purdue University.

Democrats hoped support for Barack Obama, who was elected president, would give them a boost. They wanted young and first-time Democratic voters to cast straight-party tickets, helping Pence and Wood. But many Hoosiers found it easy to support Obama while voting for other Republicans, McCann said.

'We live in a political system where campaigning is candidate specific,' McCann said."

And Mitch stayed in as Governor. From the IBJ NewsTalk Blog comes Obama, Daniels and Indiana.

What does this tell you about Indiana voters? A state that in effect asked its governor for four more years of conservative reform also helped elect a president who plans to move the country away from the conservatism that has dominated for a generation.

Come now, Jill Long Thompson ran a lukewarm, under financed campaign. I suspected that many Democrats hoped the Obama effect would mean votes for them. Give Mitch credit for appearing fresh and interesting. Emphasis on appears.

Yes, we already have Republicans telling us why Mitch won:

Berron said a majority of Hoosiers clearly understand the depth of the daunting problems on the horizon. And that's why they overwhelmingly stuck with Daniels and his governing priorities of balanced budgets and aggressive attempts to court business expansion.

"His approach and philosophy was validated. That's a really, really important thing for Indiana," Berron said. "Now more than ever, in today's world, you've got to adapt and change."

Those paragraphs come from the IBJ's Biz leaders encouraged by Indiana elections and the IBJ's Longtime Republican calls for renewed focus give us this insight:

: "MacAllister gave Republican Sen. John McCain's campaign $5,000, much less than the $20,000 he gave President George W. Bush in 2004. He conceded that Obama's campaign organization was 'brilliant,' and was particularly impressed with its huge effort in Indiana. MacAllister was disappointed that McCain never mounted a serious challenge here.

'I don't know where the hell McCain was,' he said. 'You can't win by watching. You've got to get the word out.'

Today, MacAllister said, he'll contact Republican leadership to give advice on how to recover from the party's national defeat. He said Indiana has a perfect playbook to draw on, noting Gov. Mitch Daniels' landslide re-election. Going forward, MacAllister said, Republicans must present convincing arguments that appeal to broader demographics, including minorities.

I got to agree with the general outlines of Mr.MacAllister's analysis but strongly disagree with his specific about a "perfect playbook". What MacAllister says of McCain applies just as well to the Long Thompson campaign.

And we have Republicans telling us why McCain lost Indiana in Obama's win breaks long GOP streak in Indiana:

Republicans had hoped that the state's conservative leanings would offset Obama's unprecedented Indiana campaign, which spent millions of dollars on advertising and manpower that McCain was unable to match.

'Clearly they took a state that's not been typically a battleground state and turned it into a battleground,' said Luke Messer, the co-chairman of McCain's Indiana campaign. 'We certainly understand that Barack Obama had a lot more money to spend here and all that, but at the same time it is about winning and they won"

Which does not really explain why Mitch's organization could not swing the state for McCain. That is, not until I read Why they voted the way they did in Indiana. Only these two seem to close to applying to the governor's race:

BUSH'S JOB APPROVAL: A strong majority of Indiana voters said they disapproved of President Bush's job performance. The president's approval rating among Indiana voters this election was far lower than it was in 2004.

TOP ISSUES: A majority said the troubled economy was the top issue facing the country.

So far, Mitch has not been pinned with blame for economic failures as happened with his former boss.

If Hoosiers find the Republican's Man Mitch to be what we need and want, then why do the Democrats still control the Indiana House?

What most Hoosiers do not know - and what I think Mitch Daniels never understood - is that the governor is not exactly the President of Indiana. One big difference is the governor's veto can be overturned by a simple majority - that is by one vote in the House and the Senate. Indiana's governor cannot ramrod the legislature with a veto threat in the same way a President can the Congress.

Add a lack of power with the fact that all money bills must start in the Indiana House, the governor is not the most powerful individual in the State House. Indiana's governor, at best, shares the most powerful slot with the Speaker of Indiana's House. That person remains a Democrat.

The IBJ touches on this in Daniels looks ahead to aggressive agenda:

Many of those changes came during his first two years in office, with help from a House then controlled by Republicans.

Senate Republicans yesterday maintained their 33-17 advantage. They have controlled the chamber since 1978.

Daniels said recently that his first priority in a second term is keeping the balanced budget, especially given the tanking economy.

He has suggested that will be easier to accomplish with a GOP-controlled House, calling Democratic House Speaker Patrick Bauer of South Bend "an expensive date."

I do not accept that Indiana is schizophrenic but that we want do want change and the kind of politician who presents themselves with something that appears like dynamism. I will keep to that until and unless we start seeing data from the political scientists showing I am wrong.

Updated 11-7-08 with Updating Republicans Hold Onto Top State Offices. Why?.

Jill Long Thompson Coming to Anderson

It has been a lackluster campaign for our Democratic governor candidate, but we can still hope. This is her itinerary today from The Muncie Star Press:

The candidates will be at a 10 a.m. rally at Henry County Democratic Party Headquarters, 1306 Broad St., New Castle; at an 11:30 a.m. meet-and-greet at Clara's Pizza, 1224 Northwest Fifth St., Richmond; at a 1 p.m. rally at Randolph County Democratic Party Headquarters, 100 W. Washington St., Winchester; at a 3 p.m. rally at Delaware County Democratic Party Headquarters, 214 N. Walnut St., Muncie; and at a 5 p.m. rally at Madison County Democratic Party Headquarters, 18 West 8th St., Anderson.

Yikes! Daniels Leading Long Thompson

From The Indianapolis Business Journal:

A new statewide poll shows Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels leading Democrat Jill Long Thompson by a larger margin than previous polls suggested.

The South Bend Tribune/WSBT poll released today found that 53 percent of likely Indiana voters support Daniels while 41 percent support Thompson.

The poll of 600 likely voters was conducted by telephone Thursday through Saturday, and has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

Elkhart makes The New York Times

Surprised in too many ways when I saw the subject of the headline As Industries Dry Up, Frustration and Despair was Elkhart, Indiana:

ELKHART, Ind. — To understand just how grim things have gotten in this northern Indiana town, consider a new law passed last month by the City Council that limits residents to one garage sale a month.

It seems the perpetual garage sales — which for scores of people in this town are a sole source of income, and for others the only source of clothing — were annoying some residents. The restrictions will make the financial pinch that much tighter.

Guess I missed the local paper or the Indianapolis Star reporting on this.

Elkhart, near the Michigan border in an area known as Michiana, is the white-hot center of the meltdown of the American economy. Its main industries, the manufacturing of recreational vehicles and motor homes, have fallen apart over the last year because of high gasoline prices. That has taken down ancillary businesses like R.V. parts suppliers and storage warehouses.

The jobless rate in Elkhart has increased more than in any metropolitan area in the country; it rose over 4.8 percentage points from August 2007 to August 2008. According to labor statistics released this summer, nearly 10,000 people were out of work, a rate of 9.3 percent.

“I’m just dwindling to the bottom,” Melinda Owens, 24, said as she emerged from the unemployment office.

City services are on the decline, and hold-ups are on the rise — there were nine armed robberies or attempted armed robberies on convenience stores in just the last two weeks. On Friday, the front-page news of the paper, The Elkhart Truth, was about a local plastic company that was actually not closing its plant.

Since The Times could care less about Indiana politics, the following is both interesting and not:

Political yard signs in the area seem to be about half and half, and interviews with people on the unemployment line break about even, too. But that in itself may be remarkable. Indiana has voted for a Democrat for president exactly once since 1936: in 1964, when Lyndon B. Johnson took the state.

In some of the political talk, there are undercurrents of something other than concern about Mr. Obama’s relatively short experience in Washington.

“I think Obama’s kind of arrogant,” said Theresa Ghrist, 40, whose work schedule has been reduced at her R.V. plant. “When it comes down to it around here, people are going to vote color, and I don’t think people are ready to vote for a colored president. I don’t care myself, but at work a lot of people talk color there.”

A co-worker, Jim Podemski, agreed with her assessment, but added, “I wouldn’t want to vote Republican again.”

I wonder a bit more how this will impact the governor's race. I guess the governor's claim that he is improving the state economy depends on where you are looking. I suspect it does look rosy where he looks around his office.

Muncie, Anderson Register to Vote!

Probably not the best place to put this - too little traffic here - but this is something too important not to make a point about. If you are not registered to vote, today is the last day to do so. Do it!

Muncie: Voter registration office open late today.

Everybody else: Voter registration deadline arrives

Miscellany: McCain, the Global Financial Mess

Some items I was sent recently or which I ran across this morning. Not enough time to comment on other than to say they are worth a look.

McCain, Obama, and Palin (Thirty days out and I doubt any of this will change anyone's mind - does anyone really believe that McCain is the best choice now?):

1. The Double-Talk Express
2. Mad Dog Palin
3. Palin’s Alternate Universe
   
4. Illuminating Our Choices
5. The Uplifting Debate
6. Obama and ’60s Bomber: A Look Into Crossed Paths (Does anyone really care -except Sarah Palin? - about a guy who has no role in Obama's campaign? Has no one on the Republican side noticed that Obama is not even very much of a Seventies guy, let alone a Sixties radical kind of guy?)
7. Lessons Taught By FDR
8. Sarah’s Pompom Palaver. Wherein Maureen Dowd asks a very good question:

   We could, following her strenuously folksy debate performance, wonder when elite became a bad thing in America. Navy Seals are elite, and they get lots of training so they can swim underwater and invade a foreign country, but if you’re governing the country that dispatches the Seals, it’s not O.K. to be elite? Can likable still trump knowledgeable at such a vulnerable crossroads for the country?

9. Pitbull Palin Mauls McCain which offers a nightmare that I seem to share with Frank Rich:

   You have to wonder how long it will be before they plead with him to think of his health, get out of the way and pull the ultimate stunt of flipping the ticket. Palin, we can be certain, wouldn’t even blink.

I promise nothing more on Palin unless she is field dressing a moose live on television.

Indiana:

• Inner-city housing rehab group sinking
• From MattTully of The Indianapolis Star: Factors that will sway the election (I cna hope that the Obama voters go to Long Thompson instead of Daniels).
  
• Be sure to check out the headlines/links on the right for more on Indiana politics and news. Things are happening here. This election has put us in the position of having an actual say in who will be President.

The Sunday Herald continues its examination of the global financial crisis:

1. The trouble with Europe
2. Smoke, mirrors ... and how a handful of missed mortgage payments started the global financial crisis

Now for something sensible, Punditry. A Professor Bainbridge blog. Conservative but fairly sensible.

What's Going on With Indiana's Governor's Race?

From Bloosier Hysteria:

Research 2000: Obama -1, Long Thompson -1:
"According to new Research 2000 polling, JLT fans shouldn't throw in the towel quite yet. After yesterday's gut checking SUSA 16 point Daniels lead, Indiana's gubernatorial race seems to be in a state of utter confusion."

From Blue Indiana:

Mixed messages on the gubernatorial contest

There have been four polls of the race for governor in the last few weeks. Two showed the contest within the margin of error. Two showed the contest hopelessly out of reach.

It's madness.

And thus, the landscape of this race is simultaneously static and in upheaval. Nothing has palpably changed in the last month -- least of all after the first two lackluster debates -- and yet we have statewide surveys showing surges and stagnation. Jill Long Thompson is pointing to numbers that show her within striking distance, trying to jumpstart a fundraising effort that looks to have derailed. Mitch Daniels and the Republicans have declared this race effectively over, and have won over a number of statewide and national observers.

From Indiana Commercial Foreclosure Law:

Indiana's Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Long Thompson Proposes Questionable Foreclosure Plan

This is not a political blog, and I generally do not write about residential or consumer issues. From time to time, however, there is political news targeted mainly to the consumer that I feel may be of interest to secured lenders who deal with business debts. Today's Indianapolis Star article "Long Thompson Offers Plan To Reduce Foreclosures" is one of those news stories.

Ms. Long Thompson's proposal includes items that could adversely affect a business lender's efforts to foreclose on commercial properties in a timely and cost-effective manner. It first bears mentioning that, as noted in last week's post, Indiana is a judicial foreclosure state. Relatively speaking, Indiana foreclosures already involve court-based delays and litigation-related costs that cut against lenders and in favor of borrowers.

Nevertheless, Ms. Long Thompson wants to require borrowers and lenders to mediate before the Court can enter a judgment and order a sheriff's sale. In Indiana, mediation is a non-binding settlement conference that brings the parties and lawyers face-to-face and involves an independent intermediary. Mediators (and Courts) can't force parties to settle, however. Moreover, in my experience, filing a suit to foreclose usually is the lender's last resort. Contrary to popular opinion, in the vast majority of cases, lenders don't want to foreclose. They prefer to work something out (settle). My point is that efforts will have been made to settle the case before the foreclosure proceedings have even begun, and indeed such efforts can continue after suit is filed. To mandate that lenders, against their will, incur additional delays and expense to formally mediate would, in all due respect to Ms. Long Thompson, seemingly be a waste of time and money.

Jill Long Thompson Before and After

IBJ.com - Indianapolis Business Journal - NewsTalk:

What ails Jill?

"If any governor were vulnerable to a strong challenge in a re-election campaign, it should have been Mitch Daniels, who has made a lot of Hoosiers mad by pushing daylight saving time, leasing the Indiana Toll Road and in general shaking things up."

Instead, a new poll shows Daniels sitting on a wide lead over his Democratic challenger, Jill Long Thompson.

The Howey-Gauge Poll, taken the day after Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention and hours after John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate, has Daniels ahead of Thompson 53 percent to 35 percent.

From watching the first gubernatorial debate I must say she needs to get more dynamic. Not ujnlike Obama.

Summit explores carbon capture, storage ideas

Summit explores carbon capture, storage ideas:

"With federal greenhouse gas limits possible in the near future, Indiana's utilities could soon face the challenge of reducing carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants that generate most of the state's electricity.

A state-sponsored two-day summit exploring that issue and fledgling technologies that could eliminate carbon dioxide emissions by burying the liquefied gas far below ground drew about 150 people this week to the IUPUI campus.

Gov. Mitch Daniels told the gathering of business, academic and environmental leaders that the nation seems poised to set limits on carbon dioxide emissions to combat climate change.

With those caps likely coming, he said Indiana needs to be a leader in so-called carbon capture and sequestration - removing carbon dioxide from industrial emissions before it enters the air and burying it deep underground beneath dense layers of rock."

Geez, why whenever Mitch Daniels talks about leadership I see him as the Gopher of the Titantic? He seems to always know when leadership is needed by no idea of how to lead or where to lead.

Indiana Makes Hardball

First Gubernatorial Debate

Masson's Blog has a review here. The following is from the Muncie Star Press' Candidates for governor go at it in first debate (which sounds more exciting than what I saw on WIPB):

"Their main point of contention was the health of Indiana's economy, but the two also disagreed sharply about the privatization of government services, the state's time zones and education.

Daniels defended his record of bringing new jobs to the state, pointing out accolades the state has received for its business environment and an unemployment rate that remains the lowest in the Midwest.

Long Thompson, a former congresswoman from Argos, painted Indiana as a state crushed by shuttered businesses and the nation's fastest-growing unemployment rate.

Libertarian Andy Horning used his time in the 60-minute debate at the Star Plaza Theatre to cast Daniels and Long Thompson as career politicians engaged in endless bickering."

Do Democrats Need to Worry About the Indiana House?

Masson’s Blog asked that question in Hoosier Access on the Indiana House:

"Hoosier Access has a post up on an area of real vulnerability for Indiana Democrats: the state’s House of Representatives. The Democrats currently hold the House by a margin of 51 to 49. The House gets lost in the excitement over the Presidential race and the Governor’s race. But, did you notice how a lot of the nuttiness died down when the House Republicans were removed from power? The Republicans still hold the upper hand in the state with the Senate and Governor’s office firmly under Republican control, but having a Democratically controlled House acts as a nice brake."

I do agree that with Mitch Daniels that Indiana needs a change. I suspect he would disagree with me that the first thing we need to change is him for a Democratic Governor. If we should lose the House, we will not be doing a Democratic Governor any favors.

So Ends the Indiana Primary

Up way too late last night waiting on Lake County. Up too early for working. Both mean this will be a short post.

Indiana had its big night and I think we did well. Better than some newscasters: Stuff it, Cooper, there's nothing wrong with Indiana.

So Hillary wins by 2%, loses North Carolina big and keeps on going. She leaves me conflicted - I can agree with her wanting to take this to the end but I am thinking her pursuit of the presidency is becoming an obsession. Obama still leads in delegates. I worry that she will not care for her ship when it comes in.

For me, the big upset was the Governor's race. I thought Schellinger was favored to win and then Jill Long Thompson pulls it out at the end. Schellinger conceded this evening.

Time to remember that the enemy is the Republicans and not fellow Democrats.

Anderson and Indiana's FSSA Modernization

Stale news with a lot of importance here via Anderson's The Herald Bulletin, Residents angry at welfare meeting:

FSSA began a modernization pilot program in 12 counties, including Madison County, late last year. Since then, local social service agencies have been flooded with complaints. In March, FSSA expanded the program, outraging its critics.

FSSA’s Mitch Roob maintains that the state has statistics to suggest that the program is helping more Hoosiers.

Judi Turpen of Anderson stood before the crowd and said her mother was recently at risk for being evicted from her assisted living facility because Medicaid would no longer pay the bill. Turpen says FSSA workers wanted to force her to take her mother into her own home, which is not wheelchair accessible. “I called Gov. Daniels’ office and said my house isn’t accessible, but I know yours is because I paid for it.”

After threatening to move her elderly mother into the governor’s mansion, Turpen said, FSSA workers finally resolved her problem.

The story got picked up on Taking Down Words with FSSA, Higher Ed: When will the privatization stop?. I suggest reading the comments at TDW.

Watching Indiana Week in Review I heard someone comment that the presidential race sucked the life out of the governor's race. I think that Indiana's Democrats will all agree that we do not care who is our candidate as much as we want Governor Daniels gone. This FSSA privatization project demonstrates everything that is wrong with the Daniels administration from theory to execution.

Schellinger Online

I may have previously published a link to Jim Schellinger's web page. Since I am fitting this in between work today, I am not going to look it up. Here is the link.

He is also on Facebook.

Yes, I am leaning towards Schellinger.

Poll - Indiana's Democratic Governor Candidates

Here Are The Results of SurveyUSA Election Poll #13647

Schellinger rolls out economic development plan

You can reach the plan itself here.

The Indianapolis Business Journal reported on the plan with Schellinger rolls out economic development plan:

"Democratic candidate for governor Jim Schellinger wants to base economic development on a bottom-up style that includes work-force training, small-business advancement and pushing green jobs and buildings."

***

Earlier this month, his primary election challenger, Jill Long Thompson, called for focusing economic development policy on broad issues that include tax incentives, reforming health care and education policy.
****
He proposes increasing educational opportunities for the disadvantaged by adding $1 million in state funding for advanced manufacturing training through the Manufacturing Extension Partnership. He also would open unused space in state university, community college or technical classrooms for anyone receiving unemployment benefits and whose income is less than three times the federal poverty level.

Schellinger aims to address the shortage of nurses with a $1 million scholarship and student-loan-forgiveness fund. And he proposes spending up to $7 million more annually on state-administered adult education.

A new "Office of Small Business Advancement" would be staffed by professionals to help small-company owners find tax incentives, federal assistance and access to local business incubators. The office also would help create health care insurance pools that small businesses could join in order to lower their premiums

Meanwhile, Taking Down Words published Part One: Schellinger Releases Jobs Plan, Focuses On Worker Training (and do read the comments there) and Out Of Touch: Reality, Meet Guv. Guv, Meet Reality. Go Have A Chat.

I have yet to make up my mind on the governor's race but that is because I fervantly believe that anyone would be better than Their Man Mitch.

Jim Schellinger in Anderson on Monday

12:00 p.m.

Jim Schellinger participates in city-wide MLK event

Phoenix Theatre, 749 North Park Avenue, Anderson

About the Honda hiring restrictions

From The Herald Bulletin this past Thursday: Honda hiring ‘doesn’t pass the smell test’:

"State Sen. Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, plans to seek legislation that will prevent the hiring practices announced by Honda for its new Decatur County plant."

****
“I don’t think it’s fair to discriminate based on where someone lives,” said Rep. Scott Reske, D-Pendleton. “That doesn’t pass the smell test.”

Reske agreed that the incentives Honda received compelled the automaker to accept all Hoosier applicants. He said, too, that the counties in the Honda zone don’t have large black populations, save for Marion County.

“I thought redlining had been outlawed,” Reske said, referring to illegal banking policies that prevent blacks from getting loans.

Ollie Dixon, Anderson City Councilman, agreed, saying that 96 percent of the population of the Honda counties outside Marion is white

This is from Taking Down Words' post commenting on John Ketzenberger's article in the Indianapolis Star:

But that would require economic development professionals who actually know what they're doing, study deals that have been done elsewhere and make sure all Hoosiers are included before shipping off millions of dollars in incentives. In short, it would be hard work. And the Guv would actually have to think two steps beyond the glitzy announcement. Heaven forbid.

See Looking Back: IEDC Doesn't Mind, Didn't Know About Honda Hiring Policy and read the comments, too.

Seems the State of Indiana had no idea of the hiring limitation and sounds like it would not have complained about the hiring limitation. But don't the tax dollars financing the incentives come from all over the State of Indiana?

Reading the comments on H-B site and on Taking Down Words makes me think that there is a problem with Indiana's educational system - too many do not see the connection between our tax dollars funding the incentives given to Honda.

The Daniels' crew gave incentives with money drawn from the entire state so that Honda could hire from a select area. Now that deal is done but will Daniels be in such a rush to produce jobs that he brag about next year that this kind of financial mismanagement will continue?

Also take a look at this article on Taking Down Words: You And You, But Not You: Honda Hiring Policy Draws Fire From Lawmakers