Things are happening fast as we approach Election Day here in Indiana. The Indiana Democratic Party in conjunction with local campaigns and Organizing for America knocked on over 20,000 doors across Indiana.

We have begun to lay the groundwork for an amazing election season and are excited to be across the entire state, reaching out to volunteers and voters. Just this weekend alone, Indiana volunteers led the Nation in reaching out to thousands voters at their doors and on the phone.

Many volunteers knocked on doors for the first time or made their first phone call to voters. All because they feel that this election is key to moving America forward and to fighting for Hoosier values.

This is just the beginning, and we need your help to continue the work. If you are looking to make phone calls, knock on doors, bring food, do data entry, manage an office…WE NEED YOU!

There are offices across the state that would love to have your help and there is a place for everyone. Our field staff hit the ground running just a few weeks ago, and they are excited to meet new folks and see familiar ones from the ‘08 campaign.

This election cycle is important to Hoosiers and we know that that volunteers like you know how to get the job done. Come down and join us!

If you are interested in being involved contact us at:ofaindiana@dnc.org or find an event near you at http://bit.ly/INDemEvents

Share on Facebook

The ad focuses on just how out of touch Todd Young is with the folks in Southern Indiana. He outrageously called Social Security and Medicare “Social Welfare Programs.”

As we all know - for generations, Hoosiers have paid into these programs with their hard earned dollars.

To call these programs welfare, simply shows that Young is way out of touch with working class Hoosiers and the struggles they encounter every day.

Baron Hill has always fought for those Hoosiers and will continue to do so.

You can watch the ad below:

Share on Facebook

After seeing the outrageous hypocrisy of Dan Coats’ first TV ad, you wouldn’t think it could get much worse. But now we learn that while one of his firms was working to release six suspected Yemeni terrorists from Guantanamo, the other was being paid by the terrorist haven to lobby our government. Coats has told Hoosiers on numerous occasions that he ‘makes no excuses’ for his firm’s clients, but with a nation like Yemen as a client, it seems that Dan Coats’ moral compass needs some alignment.

Below is a webvideo detailing a pattern of disturbing connections between Dan Coats and Yemen – a nation which Central Intelligence Agency analysts have identified as “the most urgent threat to U.S. national security.”

Dan Coats’ original lobbying firm—Verner, Liipfert, Bernhart, McPherson and Hand—took Yemen on as a client a year after Coats’ arrival and continued to lobby for Yemeni interests throughout the rest of his tenure. Throughout the firm’s time representing the Middle Eastern nation, Yemen has become the source of an increasing number of reports of state-sanctioned repression and violence, along with numerous accounts of Al Qaeda activity. In spite of these unsettling developments, Coats never once raised an objection to Verner Liipfert’s continued representation of the country.

Share on Facebook

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.

Share on Facebook

IDP Chain Dan Parker said the site was created after Young’s continued failure to tell voters where he stands on the issues.

“Todd Young has spent his summer avoiding the issues,” Parker said.

“Instead of telling people where he stands, Young has tried to distract the voters with scare tactics and Washington talking points. He has had two months to tell the voters where he stands on Social Security and still won’t pledge to protect it from privatization. If he won’t tell the voters where he stands, we will.”

Also this week, Baron Hill released a new TV ad hitting at Young for his assertions that Social Security is as Todd Young puts it, “a Ponzi Scheme.”

You can see the ad here.

Share on Facebook

As we all know by now, Governor Mitch Daniels went on Fox News this past Sunday continuing his “tough talk” on budgetary matters and in particular, continued his rhetoric and opposition to receiving more stimulus money for Indiana, denouncing the new $26 Billion dollar stimulus bill.

The problem is that Daniels signed onto a letter from the National Governors’ Association, asking leaders of Congress to approve an extension of the initial stimulus program’s federal match for Medicaid for two quarters in 2011.

So, one day Mitch wants stimulus funds. The next he doesn’t. Sure sounds like a flip-flop to me.

Bill Ruthhart at The Indianapolis Star has been detailing the double-speak and hypocrisy of Governor Daniels:

The [Governor’s] contrast in those two positions has ignited a political firestorm from Democrats, who argue Daniels is more interested in his national appearance and potential bid for president than taking care of Hoosiers.

The letter also made no demand that any extra stimulus money should not add to the deficit. It did ask for changes to “maintenance of effort” restrictions that come with the Medicaid funding but not demand those as a condition of receiving the federal money.

Daniels was on an Indianapolis radio show on Tuesday in an attempt to defend his ever-changing, waffling position on stimulus funds. Soon after appearing on the show when asked why Daniels said the letter contained specific requests when it didn’t, Daniels became angry, insisting he always has opposed more stimulus funding. History of course proves otherwise. Still, The Star captures Daniels’ response.

“I have made the same point over and over, that borrowing money from the Chinese and spending it on government is not effective,” he said, forcefully thrusting his finger in the air. “I’ve made that point for a year and a half.”

But when pressed about the letter again, Daniels hedged.

“My clear recollection is saying I’d only sign a letter that says don’t add to the debt, and I thought that letter made it plain.”

However, the letter didn’t, and several hours later the governor’s press secretary, Jane Jankowski, released a statement saying Daniels and other governors had requested the NGA letter include language that addressed the federal deficit, but the organization could not come to an agreement on that point.

When asked if Daniels signed the letter anyway, knowing it requested only the Medicaid stimulus funding, Jankowski responded: “The governor was a team player and signed the letter.”

Still, the Daniels administration insisted that regardless of the letter, the governor has consistently opposed any additional stimulus funding.

However, for a second day, they did not offer an explanation for why Daniels would sign a letter in support of funding he opposes.

“I think he’s now just completely trying to mislead, and whenever you try to do that, you make a bad situation worse,” Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker said of Daniels’ mischaracterization of the NGA letter. “He needs to admit that he’s flip-flopped or he needs to admit he doesn’t want the money. He needs to come clean, but the fact of the matter is, Indiana’s state budget needs this money.”

Daniels rejected that notion, saying that unlike 31 other “reckless” states, Indiana did not plan for the additional stimulus money in its budget. He also re-emphasized that Indiana, unlike most states, has $830 million in savings and can get by without the stimulus funding.

Parker countered that the state has savings only thanks to the $1.2 billion in stimulus money that shored up Indiana’s Medicaid and education spending. When the legislature has to craft a budget next year, Parker said the savings and stimulus money will be gone.

It was the appearance on “Fox News Sunday” that helped ignite Daniels’ flip-flop debacle.

On the show, in which Daniels was deemed to be a “prime contender” for president, Daniels slammed the $26 billion stimulus bill, which would provide states with funding for Medicaid and to retain teachers.

More on the Daniels rant from The Star:

Daniels continued Tuesday to attack the plan, which will send Indiana $227 million in extra Medicaid funding and $207 million to support 3,600 teaching jobs. The governor insisted the proposal only serves to bail out states that have not been as fiscally responsible as Indiana and only will add to the exploding national deficit.

“The thing they’ve done here is not paid for,” Daniels said. “They pretend, but with one quick look — as often is the case with Congress — the spending is real, but the so-called savings or offsets are fictional.”

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan disputed Daniels’ charge, insisting the bill is paid for by “lots and lots of cuts, from a lot of different places,” including food stamps.

“This bill is fully offset. It does not add a dime to the nation’s deficit,” Duncan said.

Eric Bradner of the Evansville Courier & Press captured similar sentiment of the Daniels Flip-Flop:

“It’s the ultimate in hypocrisy. You’re either for it or against it, and he wants to have it both ways because he wants to be acceptable to the national Republican Party,” said Dan Parker, chairman of the Indiana Democratic Party.

Democrats believe it is disingenuous for Daniels to tout Indiana’s strong fiscal position relative to states such as Michigan on one hand while bashing President Barack Obama’s administration’s federal stimulus package on the other.

That’s because Indiana has received almost $1.2 billion so far in stimulus money, not including the additional $434 million total that is coming through the bill the House passed Tuesday.

“He’s balancing the budget with stimulus money, and then blaming folks giving him the money for doing the stimulus, and then taking credit for balancing the budget and saving the economy in Indiana,” said state Rep. Russ Stilwell, D-Boonville. “He can’t have it both ways. We’d be laying off thousands of teachers if it weren’t for the stimulus.”

Share on Facebook

Share on Facebook

In one case, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee issued a statement noting that Dan Coats, the Republican Senate candidate in Indiana, had backed Republican efforts to block the jobless pay unless it was offset with cuts elsewhere.

“Due to Republican obstructionism, over 48,000 unemployed Hoosiers have already lost their unemployment benefits,” the Democratic statement said.

Dan Coats owes Indiana an explanation for why he refuses to support those who have been hit hardest by these tough economic times.

Share on Facebook

Thomas Cook from the WRTV Capital Watch Blog has a great new piece illustrating how more and more Hoosiers are suffering under the Daniels economy, yet fewer and fewer are receiving state benefits.

Governor Mitch Daniels has made it abundantly clear that his road to higher office will be painted black — you know, the color of his oft-touted budget numbers. Surplus! Fiscal responsibility!

Anyway, the truth of the matter is a bit more bleak looking in Mitch for America land. Sure, Indiana has “balanced the books,” but much of this balancing involved shifting huge burdens off the state and shouldering local governments with crippling debt and a political suicide pact that required either slashing local services or enacting a local tax increase.

Tax increases that the purportedly anti-tax Governor Daniels was all-too-willing to support, it’s worth noting, along with his sales and cigarette tax increases.

In this morning’s Star, Maureen Groppe takes a look at yet another area of state services that has fallen into disrepair while Mitch’s Golden Age proceeds unabated in the realm of carefully-managed public relations. Here’s the latest story the Governor’s office doesn’t want to talk about:

Indiana has an unemployment rate above the national average, but its welfare rolls are getting smaller. Why? Indiana has some of the toughest eligibility rules and smallest benefits in the nation, state officials say.

“You have to be poorer than poor,” said Jim Dunn, policy manager for Indiana’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which provides cash aid. “Even though Indiana has been hit hard with the employment loss, anyone who continues to get unemployment benefits has too much income to qualify for cash assistance in Indiana.”

Cook further elaborated on the extreme restrictions of Indiana…..

A family of three can’t earn more than $378 a month in Indiana to get cash assistance from the federal-state program. Only Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana have stricter limits.

“It’s ridiculously low, and we should adjust it,” said state Senate Minority Leader Vi Simpson, D-Ellettsville.

One would think that Daniels’ hard-earned “preservation” of a nearly $1 billion state surplus might have, you know, resulted in some positive developments for those who have been hardest hit by the economic collapse that Daniels maintains he is protecting us from. As it turns out, though, Indiana has maintained an absurdly meager program for needy Hoosiers. From the Star’s sidebar:

Cash assistance limit for a family of three:

» Indiana: $288 per month, 11th-lowest in the U.S.
» Ohio: $410.
» Michigan: $489.
» Alaska: $923, the highest amount in the nation.

Change in number of Hoosiers receiving benefits, 2005 to April 2010:

» Medicaid: 27 percent increase, to 1,076,522.
» Food stamps: 45 percent increase, to 811,061.
» Welfare cash assistance: 26 percent decrease, to 104,591.

Mitch Daniels’ state budget surplus victory: Political gold for his future ambitions, and that’s all that should matter to us, right?

Share on Facebook

Hoosiers continued to receive great news from the Chrysler Group this week as the company announced a historic $300 million investment to its Kokomo plants. The investment will fund the installation of equipment and special tooling to modernize Indiana Transmission Plant I and the Kokomo Casting Plant. The project will extend the life of both manufacturing facilities and help retain nearly 1,200 jobs.

The investment is the largest in the U.S. since the new company was formed in June of 2009.

This fantastic news comes on the heels of Chrysler’s announcement last month of adding 399 jobs also in Kokomo. And shortly after General Motors announced adding hundreds of jobs to its Southern Indiana plant in Bedford, along with hundreds of jobs in Marion and Fort Wayne.

This growth is the direct result of the Automotive Restructuring Initiative created through the hard work of President Barack Obama, Senator Evan Bayh and the Indiana Democratic Congressional delegation. While there is still work to do, these are encouraging and real signs that we are moving in the right direction.

However, none of this job growth would be realized today if it was left to Governor Mitch Daniels and Treasurer of State Richard Mourdock.

Daniels has been vehemently oppositional and outspoken on the President’s Auto Restructuring plan, saying, “honestly, I don’t know that throwing more printed money at this situation in any way, shape or form would make any difference.”

And at the Governor’s urging, Mourdock decided to file a law suit against Chrysler in an attempt to halt the company’s bankruptcy filing. He was quoted as saying, “never did I imagine I would be the sole person fighting the Obama Administration against an automobile bailout.” Not only was Mourdock’s lawsuit unsuccessful (and widely criticized), it cost Hoosier taxpayers $2 million dollars in legal fees.

Once again, the facts show that Mitch Daniels and Richard Mourdock were wrong.

Mitch Daniels has clearly led the state of Indiana in the wrong direction. We are currently facing a drastic budgetary crisis with no answers (or transparency) from the Governor’s office to explain the situation. Thousands and thousands of Hoosier teachers are being laid off across the state as a result of budget cuts by the Governor himself.  Not to mention the statewide criticism relating to the countless errors and inaccuracies in the state’s job creation statistics.

And of course, let’s not forget that Indiana is now currently embroiled in a bitter and embarrassing (not to mention expensive) lawsuit with IBM, thanks to Governor Daniels’ terrible decision to privatize the Family and Social Services Administration. It’s seemingly one problem and one mistake after another.

Enough is enough. Hoosiers just cannot afford any more of Mitch Daniels’ ill advised, poorly concocted, bad decisions.

But despite the negative and incorrect assertions from the likes of Mitch Daniels (and Richard Mourdock), the announcement from Chrysler on their historic investment in Kokomo - along with similar job growth announcements from GM plants in Bedford, Marion and Fort Wayne - show we are making progress.

Share on Facebook