Polis Politics

Sodrel, Puckett part of GOP Delegation on Drilling

From the Wall Street Journal's Political Diary (subscription only):

Go North, GOP Hopeful

Here's a piece of intelligence from the field that the McCain campaign should take careful note of: Republicans in difficult House races are spending scarce campaign dollars to travel to Alaska to dramatize their stance on the drilling issue.

Those making the trek include former Rep. Mike Sodrel, who lost his Southern Indiana seat in 2006 and is making a comeback bid; South Dakota businessman Chris Lien, who is running against Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin for the state's lone House seat; Gulf War veteran Craig Williams, running for Congress in Pennsylvania; Indiana businessman Luke Puckett, running for a seat that borders Lake Michigan; and Paul Stark, who is running in Wisconsin. The five GOP candidates, traveling as a group, will stop off in Anchorage to meet with industry experts and local officials -- Alaskans of both parties overwhelmingly favor drilling in ANWR -- before making the final hour-and-a-half flight to the refuge.

Talk about seismic. In February, only 42% of voters supported drilling in a Pew poll while 50% were opposed. Those numbers are reversed in the latest poll and such surveys are evidently a lagging indicator if Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly knows his business. Mr. Donnelly, who's fighting off the Puckett challenge in Indiana, voted last year to extend a moratorium on offshore drilling but changed his mind with the arrival of $4 gas. His spokesman even tells the South Bend Tribune: "It's a bit odd that Luke Puckett would travel over 3,500 miles to Alaska to convince Joe Donnelly of something he already supports. Joe doesn't need to go to ANWR to know that domestic exploration is an important part of a long-term strategy for energy independence."

Republicans have found an issue for November. Now if John McCain can just figure it out.

-- Reid Wilson, RealClearPolitics.com

GOP Coroner Candidate featured on Primetime Live

Much has been made in recent months about outgoing Marion County Coroner Ken Ackles, mostly because he flunked his certification exams and had his paychecks withheld as a result. But it's good to know that voters have a pretty good option for a replacement.

Dr. John Pless, the Republican candidate, was featured in a story last week on ABC's Primetime: Crime. Pless helped bring some final resolution to an 18-year old case Arkansas police were investigating, trying to determine if the victim was murdered or died accidentally. Pless was able to identify facts original autopsies had missed.

We couldn't find video of the ABC piece, but you can read a text version here. (Pless is featured on the 4th page.)

Indy Councilwoman Arrested; Lack of Quality Dems shows

Indianapolis City-County Councilor Doris Minton-NcNeill was arrested yesterday for allegedly "battery of a police officer" and resisting arrest. The Indianapolis Star story is here. Marion County Republicans have called for her resignation.

Two thoughts on this matter. First, McNeill originally finished third in the caucus to replace Patrice Abdullah last year, behind Andre Carson and Mary Ann Sullivan. If McNeill does resign, her replacement will  be the fourth Democrat in less than a year to hold the District 15 seat.

Which brings us to the larger issue. Whether it was that Democrats never thought they were going many of the races they did, or in places like District 15 there is a talent drought, Democrats have produced some really bad talent to be officeholders in recent years, and many of them have won due to a variety of reasons. This is evidenced by the fact that Democrats dumped two of their sitting officeholders (Surveyor Mary Catherine Barton and Coroner Dr. Ken Ackles) through this year's slating process. Throw in folks like Monroe Gray, whose ethical lapses are the stuff of legend, and Ron Gibson, who was also charged with similar police assault charges. and it seems the Democrats have a recurring candidate recruitment problem. They can recruit them, but they really aren't any good. 

Jon Elrod Drops 7th District Bid; Will Seek Re-Election to Statehouse

Jon Elrod announced today his intentions to drop his bid for Congress against incumbent Representative Andre Carson and run for re-election for his State House seat in District 97.

Some are elated that Democrats will now have a harder time retaining their slim lead in Indiana's lower chamber. Others are calling "dumb." Our take is that it is only dumb if you are afraid to take criticism from (liberal/Democrat) political blogs and can't take the heat. Elrod has shown he can.

Elrod, if successful in the GOP Caucus, will take on Marion County Democrat insider Mary Ann Sullivan for his re-election bid. Sullivan issued a mild press release complaining Elrod can't pick which office to run for and called him to serve his full term, which up to this point he has.

Elrod has shown himself a skillful, grassroots politician. This race will be one to watch, much to the chagrin of Pat  Bauer and the Democrats.

Something That Needs to Be Said

Boston can no longer be considered a suffering sports town. Nor can it for at least a decade.

In one year, championships for the Red Sox (MLB) and the Celtics (NBA). We all know the Patriots (NFL) story. The Bruins (NHL) made the playoffs and nearly knocked off the East's top seed, going 7 games. Boston College went to a BCS bowl.

Boston and New England, your cup runneth over. Enjoy it. No more whining about Boston being a suffering sports town.

Thompson-Oxley '08: The Mr. Horse Candidacy

Indiana's long state crisis is over now that State Representative Dennie Oxley has shown that someone is willing to be Jill Long Thompson's running mate for Lieutenant Governor. Oxley serves as House Majority Whip and made a point to note that he has his "fingerprints" on every piece of legislation that has passed in the past two years.

Oxley and Thompson wasted no time in attacking Governor Daniels, and it got us to thinking. What would the Thompson/Oxley team do differently? We went to her issues page, and we were astonished that a major party candidate for governor would put this page up as her issues page. It is difficult to understand and seems naive. Are we really going to avert Midwest decline through vocational schools and Wi-Fi?

It seems the Thompson-Oxley team is nothing more than what we call a Mr. Horse candidacy. For those with inquiring minds, Mr. Horse was a character of The Ren and Stimpy Show, which aired on Nickelodeon in the 1990s. Mr. Horse was popular because no matter the situation or question asked, Mr. Horse's response was "No, sir. I don't like it."

That seems to be the Thompson-Oxley mindset. No matter what Governor Daniels has done (or whether Oxley supported it), they don't like it. And to our liberal friends, do not compare Thompson with Mayor Greg Ballard's campaign from a year ago. Ballard ran on opposing Peterson's stances on taxes, spending, and public safety; his detractors said he needed more plans, but you knew what he would do when he was elected.

We have no clue what Jill Long Thompson will do if she were elected governor. We just know she doesn't like Governor Daniels. Until they come up with a better argument, Thompson and Oxley will be the Mr. Horse candidates.

"Green Home Market" Out of Touch with Reality

We have made no secret that we think that the "green" movement is nothing but a bunch of liberal gobbledygook. We support doing things within reason to make the environment better (or at least not make it worse). Key words: within reason. Most things part of the "Green Movement" are not within reason.

On the front page of the Indianapolis Star today is an article entitled "GREEN HOME MARKET GROWS." It is about Carmel area homebuilders making "green homes." What is the price tag of a "green home"?

$920,000!

At that price, everyone should be going green sometime in the 22nd Century.

Commentary: Ballard right on Airport name change

Indianapolis Star business columnist John Ketzenberger devotes his column today to the debate of whether to restore WWI/WWII aviator Weir Cook's name to the Indianapolis Airport.

The movement was started by veterans groups, and when Mayor Greg Ballard took office, he gave his backing to the proposal. It passed the City-County Council 25-3. The proposal is opposed, however, by those who think adding the former name will make everybody think Indianapolis has regressed into the small town they thought it used to be.

We weren't paying attention to politics back then, but if Indianapolis International is intended to showcase Indianapolis as a big, world class city, most other "Big League" cities would do the same thing, right? Here is a list of the names of the main commercial airports in Indiana and our surrounding states:

Indiana
Indianapolis: Indianapolis International Airport
Fort Wayne: Fort Wayne International Airport
South Bend: South Bend Regional Airport
Evansville: Evansville Regional Airport

Illinois
Chicago (1): Midway International Airport
Chicago (2): O'Hare International Airport
Rockford: Chicago Rockford International Airport
Peoria: Greater Peoria Regional Airport
Springfield: Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport

Kentucky
Louisville: Louisville International Airport
Lexington: Blue Grass Airport

Michigan
Detroit: Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport
Flint: Bishop International Airport
Grand Rapids: Gerald R. Ford International Airport
Kalamazoo: Kalamazoo-Battle Creek International Airport

Ohio
Cleveland: Cleveland Hopkins International Airport
Cincinnati: Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport
Columbus: Port Columbus International Airport
Dayton: James M. Cox Dayton International Airport
Akron: Canton-Akron Regional Airport
Toledo: Toledo Express Airport

Looking at that list, the other "Big City" airports that use the same naming formula as Indianapolis International are Louisville and Columbus, both cities with reputations, like Indianapolis, of having "Big City" envy and wanting to make decisions to shed "small town" images. Chicago has two airports. Cleveland kept its Hopkins names. Detroit and Cincinnati have area names, and Detroit doesn't even use the "International" moniker even though it is a leader in flights to Canada,Europe, Mexico, and China.

Yet, the Indianapolis International formula is also used by very "small time" cities like Fort Wayne, Kalamazoo, and Rockford. Grand Rapids, Dayton, and Flint all make it a point of putting "international" their names as well. Being "International" does not make a "Big League" city.

In our opinion, Big Cities are truly that when they stop worrying about being seen as a small city. Mayor Ballard's move to restore Weir Cook is the right one because, whether he knows it or not, Indianapolis will never be the "world class city" we want it to be until we shed our inferiority complex of our former reputation. We worked hard to shed it; we should not let it govern our future.

Obamanomics strikes fear in the hearts of, well, most everyone

Club for Growth guru and Wall Street Journal contributor Stephen Moore analyzes the Obama tax plans in the Journal's Political Diary (subscription only):

In various tax proposals Mr. Obama has set the definition of rich at levels of $100,000, $200,000 and $250,000 in annual income. He has vowed, for example, to erase the Bush tax cuts not only for those who make more than $250,000, but to end the cap on Social Security taxes, which amounts to a tax hike on anyone who makes more than $100,000 in income. More recently, Austan Goolsbee, an Obama economic adviser, told me the new cap might be set at $200,000.

All of this has caused some heartburn among certain Democrats in high cost-of-living states. New York Rep. Joseph Crowley says a couple with earnings of $100,000 could be "a police officer and nurse." "In New York City," he adds, "they'd be struggling."

This is not just a rhetorical exercise. It could tell us a lot about whether Democrats can come anywhere close to paying for all their spending promises and still meet their vow to balance the budget. One problem for Senator Obama and his class-warfare crowd is that repealing the Bush tax cuts for those with earnings of more than $250,000 would raise only about $40 billion a year, according to Cato Institute economist Alan Reynolds. That would leave President Obama with a $360 billion shortfall to meet his other proposals. Either those nurses and policemen are going to have to be defined as "rich" by Team Obama, or the Democrats' pledge of balancing the budget in five years is a fantasy. Add the fact that his various spending proposals will certainly prove more costly than projected. It sounds like not just the top 2% but most of the bottom 98% had better get ready for higher taxes under an Obama administration.

Dan Parker, Indiana Democrats Show No Love to Andre Carson

One week from today will mark Andre Carson's third full month as Congressman from Indiana's Seventh District. He's the Pride of Marion County, the Congressional Black Caucus, and other groups, but not the Indiana Democratic Party.

Conspicuously missing from Dan Parker's website of Democrat elected officials from across Indiana is Congressman Andre Carson. See the graphic below...

We know many were pulling for Woody Myers or David Orentlicher, but what does it take for a sitting congressman to get some love from his own party?