For months now, Democratic Senate hopeful Brad Ellsworth has been on the road to visit with friends and community leaders across Indiana - from the 4th of July parade in Gary to the Strassenfest in Jasper, and all sorts of places in between.
Wherever Brad goes, members of the staff aren’t far behind, and we put together a short video so you can hear directly from them about their favorite moments on the campaign so far.
With Indiana GOP Senate candidates set to debate this evening in Indianapolis, Democrats release a list of questions they have refused to answer. The most burning are below:
1. Currently the US Senate is working to enact reforms on Wall Street that would prevent another financial disaster being caused by reckless lending and irresponsibility by America’s biggest banks. Do you support reigning in the excess of Wall Street and finally start making our economy work for Main Street?
2. 4 of the 5 Republican candidates failed to file their personal financial disclosure on April 4th and Dan Coats even went so far as to tell a reporter on national television that he “can’t begin” to say how much money he made as a lobbyist? When will you decide to follow Senate ethics rules and disclose your personal financial dealings to Hoosier families?
3. Do you support the privatization of Social Security? There are currently over 1 million Hoosiers receiving Social Security…if elected to the Senate, will you support Republican propositions to privatize these programs so many Hoosier seniors count on?
4. Are you all 100% committed to the full repeal of health care reform? If so, how will you justify kicking young adults off their parent’s health insurance, re-opening the donut hole for seniors, bringing back appalling insurance practices such as denial of coverage based on pre-existing conditions, and removing 820,000 Hoosiers from the health insurance rolls?
5. With the most recent set of job numbers putting Hoosier unemployment at around 9.7%, what steps would you take to support President Obama’s efforts to create new jobs and move our country towards economic recovery?
6. One of the five candidates — Dan Coats — has lobbied on behalf of foreign governments and supported free trade agreements that shipped American jobs overseas. Would you now say whether or not you support providing tax cuts to companies that ship our jobs overseas – companies that value their bottom lines over the interests of Hoosier families and continue to take opportunities away from already struggling American workers?
Whoever the Indiana Republican party nominates to challenge for Evan Byah’s open US Senate seat - their options all have warts. This was nicely broken down in a recent National Journal column by Charlie Cook who was lamenting the validity and impact of the Tea Party movement and its potential role in the upcoming primaries.
Indiana is a similar case. If former GOP Sen. Dan Coats had never retired and was simply running for re-election, he would be in strong shape.
But even having retired, he would have been better off had he gone back to Indiana after his stint as ambassador to Germany, instead of moving to Northern Virginia to become a Washington lobbyist.
And if he weren’t on videotape effectively telling a North Carolina audience he intended to retire there but please don’t tell the folks back in Indiana, he would have been stronger still.
Suffice to say Coats is a bit damaged, and House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence might have been a better candidate.
Even hindered by baggage, though, Coats is probably a decent bet to win the open seat against Democratic Rep. Brad Ellsworth, the tough former sheriff who traded in his badge for a congressional pin in 2006.
But if Republicans nominate a perennially weak candidate like former Rep. John Hostettler, or perhaps a Tea Party candidate, Ellsworth could be well-positioned for the open seat.
Hostettler had an ugly habit of raising little money in off years, he had a lousy campaign organization, and every two years the national party had to bail his sorry rear end out — until he lost to Ellsworth in 2006.
Hostettler made no friends at the National Republican Congressional Committee. Indeed, when he finally did lose, the feeling seemed to be, “Good riddance. In a cycle or two we’ll get a Republican in that seat who will be worth defending and won’t need to be bailed out every election year.”
As a Senate candidate, Hostettler is likely to be a disaster, unless he has gotten a complete political makeover. He or a Tea Party type could lose what otherwise would be a fairly safe race.
