RIT follows Indiana Election

The Big Day

2006-11-08T17:39:00.000-05:00

So you spent all your money for the big day and now its the morning after. Was it worth it? In the state of Indiana, election results showed turnovers in the House in district 2 (Donnely* vs. Chocola), district 8 (Ellsworth* vs. Hostettler) and district 9 (Hill* vs. Sodrel)- all in favor of Democrats, which is no surprise for most. Nonetheless, Indiana still remains fairly balanced.

Here are the campaign finance statistics for District 9:

Baron Hill (D)
Total Receipts: $1,672,524
Ending Cash: $543,016
Individual Contributions: $841,811
PAC Contributions: $672,380

Mike Sodrel (R)
Total Receipts: $2,403,290
Ending Cash: $666,347
Individual Contributions: $931,635
PAC Contributions: $1,113,205

-----------------------------------

On a similar note, in district 2:

Joe Donnely (D)
Total Receipts: $1,333,572
Ending Cash: $242,324
Individual Contributions: $808,389
PAC Contributions: $464,125

Chris Chocola (R)
Total Receipts: $2,955,623
Ending Cash: $656,687
Individual Contributions: $1,569,925
PAC Contributions: $1,342,410

-----------------------------------

So it looks like maybe spending more money is not always the right answer. Then again, the 4% Sodrel needed in his district to tie was sucked right up by Libertarian Eric Schansberg, whose campaign ideologies were probably just too harsh for the moderates of Indiana to accept- what he needs is some consensus theory. Coincidentally, Chocola needed the same percentage of votes in his district to tie Donnely, but fell short without any Libertarian influence.

See for yourself at: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/IN/

~Danny

Election Night: A Political Shift?

2006-11-06T11:28:00.000-05:00

On election night Indiana, the “Crossroads State” may play a large role in a Democratic takeover in the house. In the past news anchors like Dan Rather have deemed Indiana a Republican stronghold and win early on in the evening. However, tomorrow’s election may be an entirely different story. A big issue for many voters in Indiana is the Bush administration’s failure to make progress on Iraq. Hoosiers are also disapproving of the Bush administration’s failure to create good manufacturing jobs and failure to address the US addiction to oil. These are also main issues on the National level. These issues coupled with congressional scandal and dysfunction suggest that Indiana could be a large part of a reordering of political balance in Washington. Residents of Indiana have friends and family members serving in Iraq, have a tighter budget due to fluctuating gas prices, and have lost jobs due to a national outsourcing. These issues are all very personal to them and come election day we may see this predominantly Republican state loose key seats to the Democratic party. These key seats (Districts 2, 8, and 9) may be just enough for the Democrats to take hold of the House. It is also important to note that these three districts have formidable Democratic challengers. In the 8th District, Ellsworth with his law enforcement experience on homeland security issues combined with his conservative view on abortion and guns could gain him the seat. In the 9th District, Hill a former Congressman is running on his Indiana Hall of Fame high school basketball legacy and reliable “Blue Dog” Democrat appeal. In the 2nd District, Donnelly a pro-life businessman and graduate from Notre Dame has a good chance. So when looking to the polls tomorrow we may see a shift in Indiana, that could give momentum to other congressional races across the country.
-Kiersten

See: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006611010367

Updates in the Key Races

2006-11-05T21:03:00.000-05:00

According to just about every report on this election, Indiana will play a major role in determining the fate of the House of Reps. On election day, the results from Indiana will most likely determine if the Democrats will ride their wave of change or the Republicans have successfully defended themselves from the onslaught of anti-incumbency. Here's a few updates in the races.

2nd District: Chocola (R) - Donnelly (D)
The latest polls seem to indicate that this race is still anyone's call. Donnelly does have a very slight edge in the polls, but mostly within the error margin of the poll.

7th District: Carson (D) - Dickerson(R)
Dickerson has effectively closed the gap on Carson. Carson is still probably the favorite in this race due to the demographics of the district, but it is possible that Dickerson is within range of pulling an upset.

8th District: Hostettler (R) - Ellsworth (D)
Ellsworth is ahead between 5 and 10 points in the polls. Keep in mind Hostettler has come back from similar straights in past elections, however his strange campaigning seems to have finally caught up with him.

9th District: Sodrel (R) - Hill (D)
Dead Heat. Although Hill's recently discovered misstatements and exaggerations concerning his past accomplishments on his campaign website might have tipped the scales in Sodrel's favor.

Overall: The closeness of all of these races show that there is a scare for the Republicans in office, but the fact that Carson was able to close a relatively large gap against Dickerson has me questioning if big changes are really on the way or just close elections. Get out to Vote efforts seem as if they will be the deciding factor on Tuesday.

-Wade

8th District Woes

2006-10-28T17:56:00.000-04:00

In the 8th district, Democrat Brad Ellsworth may be gaining the advantage against Republican incumbent John Hostettler, thought to be a competitive opponent. On a poll dated 17-20 October published by CNN with a 5% error, Hostettler was behind 7%, with 50% of the people supporting Ellsworth. Those 7% are still undecided, leaving the 8th district still up for grabs. In an article from Time, many believe Hostettler can't beat Ellsworth, and Hoosiers are concerned that Hostettler is not even putting forth an effort. In response, he has campaigned even harder, but targetted at a particular group of constituents: evangelical Christians.

Hostettler has had a track record of standing up against the GOP and Bush, which makes him appealing to many Hoosiers. He was even cited as voting against the War in Iraq, but many Hoosiers argue that given the GOP's stance on the war, Hostettler's position may not be enough.

See the article here:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1551842,00.html

~Danny

Dickerson Creeps Up In the 7th District

2006-10-23T19:46:00.000-04:00

According to the just recently releasesd 24-hour News 8 Indiana Poll, Republican Eric Dickerson who trailed by 20 points six weeks ago now, is now trailing by five behind Democratic incumbent, Julia Carson, 48-43. In this Democratic leaning district which includes Indianapolis, Carson has never lost an election. In regards to the poll, Dickerson "doesn't want to participate in poll chasing.
The poll consisted of 400 likely voters who were asked the question "If the election for Congress were held today, would you vote for Julia Carson, the Democrat, or Eric Dickerson, the Republican?"

--Vincent

Will the Real Polling Data Please Stand Up

2006-10-16T13:33:00.000-04:00

Ok, so the one thing that the pollsters can agree on is that the 2nd, 8th and 9th Districts are all relatively close races that are currently leaning Democrat. However, what they cannot seem to agree on is by how much.
According to the polling data taken from RealClearPolitics.com, there are some very strange results that have come within the last few weeks.
In the latest Poll (10/05 - 10/12) in the 8th District, Brad Ellsworth seems to be up 23 points on Hostettler. This is horrible news for the Republicans, if the numbers really are true. However, looking back to a poll done 2 weeks ago, Ellsworth was up only 15 points. Another two polls that were done over the same time period as the poll with Ellsworth up 15 points, have him up by 6 and 4 points. There is a 9 point discrepancy between the two polls. This is huge. I'm guessing someone is spending some of their campaign money on polling data, rather than advertising.
In the 9th District, there is another interesting set of polling data that is shown. Hill, the Democrat has seen his lead (well, in the polls at least) shrink from 11 points to 2 points in the last month. This goes against everything being said in the media. How interesting, the Republican is gaining ground in a race. Can it be?
How to read the polls from the 2nd District are anybody's guess. In the latest poll, published on Oct. 10, Donnelly (D) has a 4 point lead, however a day before he had a 1 point lead. Margin of Error...maybe, ok. But wait! 4 days before he had a 16 point lead in another poll! Amazing.
In any case, after looking at these poll numbers, it can be said that the general feeling is that in the 2nd and 9th districts, there are very close races. In the 8th, who knows?! More than anything, these polls seem to be statistical advertisements.

-Wade

A few e-mails, a page and 960 miles later,

2006-10-13T18:16:00.000-04:00

As if Republicans have not had a harmful enough encounter with former Congressman Mark Foley of Florida, now the impact has spread to Indiana as well. Between Democrat Baron Hill and Republican Mike Sodrel in the 9th District of Indiana, aggressive campaigning ads have been aired, including one Hill ran that accused Sodrel of taking "$77,000 from the House leadership, who knew about but did nothing to stop sexual predator Congressman Foley." In a rebuttal ad, Sodrel defends by saying that the issue is still being investigated and who knew what and when has yet to be determined, so no immediate plans to return it are on the table.

On a similar note, Sodrel lashed back by accusing Hill of "failing to represent Hoosier values with his votes 'to allow flag burning, for abortion and against traditional marriage.'" to which Hill's only response was that while he was against flag burning and same-sex marriage, but did not feel that the Constitution was an appropriate place to place those arguments, and that he "opposes abortion but does not support making it illegal."

Can't these candidates get their own scandal to talk about?

More from the Courier-Journal:
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061011/NEWS0203/610110540/1070

~Danny

A Quick Rundown

2006-10-12T15:15:00.000-04:00

With the election now roughly a month away, a quick rundown on the status of all the races is here.

8th District: (R) John Hostettler* vs. (D) Brad Ellsworth
According to CQPolitics.com, this race has been changed from having No Clear Favorite to Leans Democrat.
Hostettler, a devout 6-term conservative has had a record of having very close reelection races in the past. However, Ellsworth, a local sheriff, seems to have a strong lead in the public opinion surveys. Hostettler's strong stance of backing the Administration and the dropping approval ratings of both the President and Gov. Mitch Daniels seem to be spelling doom for the Republican.
In the latest debate between the two, they differed on many issues, including the increase in minimum wage, which Ellsworth supports. Hostettler spent part of his opening and closing statements in the debate portraying Ellsworth and the liberal interests in this race as merely a vote for Pelosi as Speaker of the House.
Don't count Hostettler out just yet, he has the strongest Get Out To Vote Campaign in Indiana, which could serve as the deciding factor in this close race.

2nd District: (R) Chris Chocola* vs. Joe Donnelly
In a rematch of the race 2 years ago, Chocola seems to have lost the momentum, with the race being now classified as No Clear Favorite instead of Leans Republican.
2 years ago, Chocola won by 10% points. However, this time around Donnelly has a much more organized campaign and with the Presidential approval rating down, its not good news for Chocola.
Recently, Chocola has been critized in attack ads over votes on stem cell research and military pay increases. Moveon.org has been involved in running a negative campaign since spring. Interestingly, one ad on stem cell research seemed to have crossed the line. In the ad, a young girl states“How come he thinks he gets to decide who lives and who dies? Who is he?” -NYT Donnelly's campaign has apparently pulled the ad, saying that they want to focus their resources elsewhere. This week Laura Bush is coming to campaign for Chocola.

9th District: (R) Mike Sodrel* vs. (D) Baron Hill
This race is being classified as No Clear Favorite.
This is the 3rd rematch of the two candidates. In 2002, Hill won as an incumbent by 5% points. Sodrel won in 2004 by only .5% of the vote.
This race should come down to the wire again, with the better Get Out To Vote Campaign taking the seat.

7th District: (D) Julia Carson* vs. (R) Eric Dickerson
This race should be a Democratic victory. However, Julia Carson has had a history of underperforming in this Democratic leaning district, which includes Indianapolis. She is heavily favored against Dickerson, who is a car dealer.

3rd District: (R) Mark Souder* vs. (D)Tom Hayhurst
Classified: Safe Republican
Hayhurst, a Fort Wayne city councilman is running against Souder in this heavily Republican district. President Bush recieved over 2/3 of the vote in this District 2 years ago.

-Wade

Throwing Cash at the 8th

2006-10-04T13:21:00.000-04:00

According to an article in today's Indy Star, the Indiana 8th district House races has drawn the biggest amount of independent contributions of any House race in the country. To date Hostetler has recieved $1.3 million from the Republican National Campaign Committee with Ellsworth recieving $1.1 million from the Democrat Congressional Campaing Committee. This race has recieved almost a million dollars more combined contributions from the national level than the next pricest race (New York).

For the record the here are the major contributions to the other two races:
2nd District:
Chocola (R) - RNCC: $325,000; Club for Growth: $2,720
Donnelly (D) - DCCC: $308,000;
Moveon.org ($245,600) and American Federation of State County and Municiple Employees($5,000) have given money to be used against Chocola.

9th District:
Sodrel (R) - RNCC: $593,000; NRA: $13,852
Hill (D) - DCCC: $191,161

Part of the problem for Hostetler is that he raises very little money as an incumbent. Also, Ellsworth is taking large contributions from special interest groups.

It appears that both parties have set out to win the 8th District in Indiana. With so much money invested in this one district, the Democrats could suffer a major setback if they do not take over Hostetler's seat. According to multiple polls out of Indiana, Hostetler is now trailing Ellsworth by 6-10 points. This could be a major loss for Republicans, however it should also be noted that several sources have commented that in Hostetler's previous races he has not polled well but somehow seems to pull out a victory on election day regardless. I'm guessing the GOP is counting on him doing it once again.

-Wade

Could Tradesports.com be right?

2006-09-27T11:54:00.000-04:00

According to those people willing to put money on it, at www.tradesports.com , Indiana’s 8th and 9th Congressional districts are currently favoring Democrats for the Win of both seats which are being called “Republican toss-ups.”

Indiana’s 9th District has seen a big change since April of this year. At that time the chances of the Republicans holding the seat were trading at 65.00 and the Democrats chance of winning was only at 35.00. However, currently the Democrats are favored to win the seat at 67.00 and the Republicans have fallen way behind to 32.00. The data shows that from September 8-14th Democrats were close to their all time high at 74.00 while Republicans hit their record low of 25.1. Although the Republicans had been steadily declining in favor for the win from April to the present we should still consider why the period of September 8-14th caused such a shift. Perhaps the fact that it was surrounding the anniversary of 9/11 had an effect. If that is true then does the fact that after the 14th Republicans rose up some to 32.00 and the Democrats fell to 67.00 mean that peoples suppositions of the effect the War on Terror has on the US, and specifically Indiana’s 9th district, fall short?

The same holds true in Indiana’s 8th District. In April of 2006 Democrats chance of winning the seat was trading at about 46.50 while the Republicans were trading at 56.00. Today the numbers are quite different. The Republicans have slipped down to 35.00 and the Democrats are favored at 65.00. According to the charts both the Republicans and Democrats had even odd for winning for the first half of September at 50.00. But on September 15, 2006 the Democrats hit their all time high of 65.00 and the Republicans dropped to a record low of 35.00. So, the question we now should ask is what happened on September 15th to cause such a sudden change?

-Kiersten

Political Attrition Takes Toll on Democrats

2006-09-27T09:36:00.000-04:00

According to an article released by the Associated Press on September 27th, the Democratic Veterans are going to have a tougher fight ahead than originally thought. Over the past few months the Democratic Party has boasted that several dozen of the Democratic challengers in the upcoming elections are also veterans. At the time this seemed to be a big thing with sites dedicated solely to the “Fighting Dems.” However, with only six weeks left before the midterm elections are to take place, the impressive number of 50+ Democrats running for Congress has dwindled down to only a few Democratic Veterans actually having a chance to win the seat. The Democrats need to gain 15 GOP seats in the House to win control of congress. So why are there so few Democrats with a military record left? For one many of them lost in the primaries, dropped out, or have fallen far behind their Republican opponents in fundraising. In addition, the Democrats will only give financial backing to those candidates they think have a strong chance at winning. According to Karen Finney, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, “They understand that our party is committed to our men and women in uniform and that our party has a place for them.” But with so few Democratic candidates with a military background left in competitive races only time will tell if this initiative actually will pay off.

SEE http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DEMOCRATS_VETERANS?SITE=VTBUR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

-Kiersten

Making the National Links

2006-09-26T18:10:00.002-04:00

In an article in the September 25 Washington Times entitled "GOP focuses on Democratic Leaders" a new tactic for the Republicans to hold some of their seats in the House has been brought to light. Rather than trying to attack the Democratic oponents in each individual race, the GOP has begun a campaign to educate the public on who the leaders of the House would be if the Democrats won back control.
One such ad that has been running the the 8th District of Indiana between Brad Ellsworth and Incumbent John Hostettler states: "Here's something to think about. Democrats in Congress believe that your taxes should be higher to pay for their bigger government. They believe wiretapping of terrorist communications violates civil liberties. And congressional Democrats believe that illegal immigrants should get amnesty. No matter how you slice it, a vote for Brad Ellsworth is a vote to put these Democrats in charge of Congress. But their agenda is just too risky." - WT
The GOP has printed papers containing statements made by influential liberal Democrats in the House, in particular Nancy Pelosi (possible Speaker of the House) that are intended to influence possible swing voters in this normally very republican district, as well as energizing the party faithful to get out to vote to stop the liberals from getting control of Congress.
Other Dem's included in this educational paper are impeached FL Rep. Alcee Hastings (bribery, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice) whom Pelosi has tabbed to become the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and MI Rep. John Conyers, the next in line for the Chair of the House Judiciary Committe, who has implied that he would like to impeach President Bush.
The Democrats have already tried to make some more general links to the national scene by making commercials starring President Bush and the War in Iraq.
In general this seems to be a concession by the Republicans that they do not believe that they will be able to beat out the necessary Democrat challengers on the issues alone. Instead, they are willing to stake this election on the shocking statements made by the left-wing leadership of the Democrating party. The Democrats already seem to have staked their hopes on the approval ratings of the President and the War. With the President slowly gaining some much needed popularity for the GOP this should make this wager by the Republicans a very interesting one. One that will be very costly for the losers.

-Wade

Seats of Interests

2006-09-25T20:44:00.000-04:00

The following Congressional seats have become a focus for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee:

Indiana’s 2nd District. This seat is currently held by Chris Chocola. He won re-election in 2004 with 54% of votes. His opponent is Joe Donnelly, who lost to Chocola in 2004, is running again in 2006 hoping to receive more funds as he was outspent nearly 2 to 1.
Indiana’s 8th District. The incumbent is John Hostettler, who currently has a 34% approval rating, is up against Brad Ellsworth-sheriff of Vanderburg County. Hostettler is mostly known for his remarks more notably that the Democrats “can't help themselves when it comes to denigrating and demonizing Christians."
Indiana’s 9th District. In 2004, Mike Sodrel defeated then-incumbent Baron Hill by the smallest winning percentage of that year-1,025 votes. The district is nearly split.

Who Said That?

2006-09-25T19:39:00.000-04:00

The battle in Indiana's 9th District heats up with television ads released by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee publicly declaring that Mike Sodrel is for privatizing Social Security in a “deceptively negative television ad containing blatant factual errors” report Mike Sodrel supporters. Sodrel’s supporters argue that the article the DCCC is referring to that ‘Nowhere in the article cited by the ad does it note Sodrel's support for privatization. What the Courier-Journal article does say is that Sodrel does not "support any of the specific proposals that have been made for overhauling the Social Security system.” (Courier-Journal, 3/29/05)’ .They continue to claim that the evidence shows that Baron Hill is actually in favor of investing Social Security and has publicly voiced his approval. Sodrel’s supporters cite Hill’s response in a video clip when approached with a suggestion to invest Social Security funds in the stock market:
"You mean the government doing the investing? I like your idea. I think you are on to something now. Well, I used to work with Merrill Lynch before I went to Congress. They've got into all kinds of troubles now, but back when I used to work for them they were an honest company. But one of the things I did was this kind of investing for corporations. It's called a defined benefit program and that's what really Social Security is."
See http://www.mikesodrel.com/news.php?itemId=35

To see video footage click of Baron Hill’s response click here

“Winning the War on Terror” vs. “National Security”

2006-09-25T12:25:00.000-04:00

Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District

When reviewing the "Winning the War on Terror" section of Chris Chocola’s (R) issues page one thing in particular struck me as being potentially harmful to his campaign. “We have learned that fighting Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and turbulent regions around the globe means that we will not have to fight them on the streets of our own cities.” Although we have yet to encounter a terrorist attack against the United States since September 11th, 2001, I think it is very risky to suggest that because we are fighting over in Iraq and Afghanistan that we will not have any attacks on U.S. soil. If there were to be a successful terrorist act in the United States in the weeks leading up the election I think it would be very difficult for the Republicans to hold this seat in the House of Representatives. The race for Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District is being referred to by the Cook Political Report as a “Republican Toss Up.”

See http://www.chocolaforcongress.com/Issues/Issue/?IssueID=1559

According to Joe Donnelly (D) issues of National Security are slightly different. He notes that “Nothing can change the series of mistakes this administration has made in Iraq, but we can and must make tough decisions about the future so that we can successfully conclude the mission and bring our soldiers home.” Furthermore, he recognizes that there is still a need to focus on present day threats. “I will work to develop America’s defense and intelligence resources to address 21st century threats.” It is important we note that unlike the incumbent Chocola, he does not make any assumptions that the U.S. is safe from attacks and emphasizes our need to continually improve. However, according to the Rasmussen Reports “In the new survey, 48% say the situation in Iraq is likely to get worse over the next six months, and only 28% expect improvement. Those numbers too are about the same as just before the President's speech. Forty-seven percent (47%) say that the mission in Iraq will ultimately be judged a failure.” These statistics could help Donnelly’s campaign. If the 8th district is in line with the rest of the country and only 28% of people think there will be an improvement in Iraq then it follows that a new person in the House could possibly bring about that change as opposed to the incumbents.

See http://www.donnellyforuscongress.com/index.php?id=3,9,0,0,1,0

It is also interesting to note that according to the Rasmussen Report:
“More than twice as many Republicans (68%) as Democrats (26%) say the U.S. and its allies are winning the war on terror. Three times as many Democrats (67%) as Republicans (22%) expect things to get worse in Iraq; and by about the same margin, that the mission in Iraq will ultimately fail. Democrats are far more likely to give the President poor marks for his handling of the situation there.
Only 19% of Democrats say we're safer than we were just before the terrorist attacks of five years ago; 73% of Republicans say we are.”

The seemingly vast differences in opinion between Republicans and Democrats in relation to the war on terror will prove to be a battleground for the upcoming elections. Chocola will have a hard time convincing the 74% of democrats and 32% of Republicans who believe the US is loosing the war on terror. Likewise, Donnelly will need to figure out a way to prove the U.S. is in fact loosing the war on terror due to mistakes in Congress in an attempt to win the race.

See http://www.rasmussenreports.com/2006/War%20on%20Terror_Monthly_Update.htm

-Kiersten

"Economy" and "Health Care" the Buzz Words

2006-09-15T09:15:00.000-04:00

It appears as though employment and increased prices in gas and healthcare are among some of the major concerns in the Midwest. In particular, Joe Donnely (the 2nd district House democratic candidate) is concerned that oil and gas industries are receiving too many subsidies due to a special interest controlled Congress. He is a campaigner for "energy independence," and seeks solutions to provide incentives for using alternate fuels. Regarding healthcare, Donnely believes it should be better quality, affordable and more accessible.

Donnely's opponent, incumbent Chris Chocola [R], can be found singing a similar tune, citing specific actions taken during his term like the Health Care Freedom of Choice Act, allowing citizens to deduct all of their medical expenses, and bills that have now become law allowing retired police officers and firefighters to purchase healthcare and long-term insurance. He too is a supporter of alternate energy sources and eliminating America's dependence on foreign petroleum. Additionally, Chocola is also working on ways to decrease wasteful spending by supporting an act that will make Federal budget simplification easier.

In the 8th District (home to R.I.T.'s competing engineering school, Rose Hulman Institute of Technology-- where John Hostettler {see below} actually graduated with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering), incumbent John Hostettler [R] and Brad Ellsworth [D] battle it out along similar notes. Interestingly enough, there is no apparent "Issues" section on Rep. Hostettler's website, though Ellsworth's "Issues" section is feeling a little slim.

All in all, on these issues, it seems like these candidates are all generalists. They are all pursuing the same interests, which suggests the election may boil down to not what the candidates want to do, but how they plan to do it. It is no surprise that incumbents have a 95% re-election rate, when you really look at the arguments being made. More to follow later!

Additional Reading : http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-08-31-key-issues-trends_x.htm?POE=click-refer

Democrats:
http://www.donnellyforuscongress.com/
http://www.ellsworthforcongress.com/

Republicans:
http://www.chocolaforcongress.com/
http://www.johnhostettler.com/

~Danny

ID Please

2006-09-12T11:30:00.000-04:00

This year there will be a new twist to the election in many states, including Indiana. Since the last election in 2004 a new law has been enacted by the Republican lead legislature that requires voters to show ID before being allowed to vote. The Democrats went to the courts decrying the law as burdensome to the voters, but in April the judge hearing the case decided that they did not give ample proof to say that this ID was overly burdensome to the voters.

Since this is the first time that this is required, I can see that there could be some possible issues with people not realizing that this will be needed at their polling place, but I do not see how this could be called a burden on the voter. Is it a burden to carry your license while driving a car? Is it disenfranchising immigrants to require a proof of citizenship or proper working papers before employing them in this country?

This issue seems to be a deeper issue that has the lawmakers disagreeing with the outcrying of the people. People across America in the last year have made it a point to tell their representatives that they are tired of illegal immigrants taking jobs and not paying taxes that citizens and legal immigrants have to pay. However, the representatives seem to not want to do much about this in most situations. Is this because they are getting votes from these people? I guess we'll find out on election day how many votes will not be allowed to be cast due to this new change in procedure. For any law-abiding citizen of the US, this should be just one more place that we hear "ID Please."
-Wade

GOP Faces Rough Election

2006-09-06T12:03:00.000-04:00

"Even more worrisome to the Republicans is Indiana, where three House incumbents — Reps. Chris Chocola, John Hostettler and Mike Sodrel — could fall to their Democratic challengers. There, Bush's weaknesses have been compounded by the problems of Republican freshman Gov. Mitch Daniels, in hot water over his decisions to switch some counties into new time zones and to lease the Indiana Turnpike to a foreign consortium.
The reversal of fortune is particularly striking in Ohio and Indiana; both states have been dominated by Republicans and have had vaunted party organizations. But organization is less effective in a climate of depressed morale. One major GOP consultant said: "If you're outside the Beltway and dealing with activist types and donors, they're angry at the party for not getting as much done, for drifting away from the tenets of the party and a whole host of things. It makes us believe many of them will stay home or not work as hard."" - The Seattle Times 9/6/06

We will be following the upcoming election with a focus on the possibility of a new turn in the political landscape in the state of Indiana. With the Democrats looking to make a real run at capturing seats in this typically bleed red state, we'll look to examine what the voters on Indiana care about and see if this tide-turning towards the Democrats is an actual ideological turn in the American people or just a media fabricated campaign effort.

To read the rest of the article:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003245400_campaign06.html

-Wade