Ruckelshaus Runs Smear Campaign on Qaddoura

John Ruckelshaus and Fady Qaddoura

There are a lot of negative and misleading ads running this campaign cycle. 

One candidate's ad, however, is particularly cruel and misleading in its claim.

WTHR's Verify team took a look at an ad that John Ruckelshaus is running against his opponent Fady Qaddoura. Ruckelshaus has made a career of being a state senator that truly has resisted some of the crazy his caucus often peddles and is widely respected by people of all political spectrums. That's why many were shocked by the ad Ruckelshaus continues to run against Qaddoura.

The ad has all the markings of a negative political ad complete with the grainy photos, empty swingsets, etc. Ruckelshaus makes the claim that Qaddoura, as Indianapolis City Comptroller cut preschool out of the budget for at-risk three-year-olds. 

This is just plain misleading. A five-year agreement to provide preschool finished, so it was taken out of the budget. The budget then went through the public process all budgets go through and was approved by not only a majority of the City-County Council, but a unanimous vote of both Republicans and Democrats. The Comptroller only prepares the budget. This individual has no power to make the final decisions.

After WTHR pointed out the misleading nature of the ad, didn't even have the decency to pull it. It's continuing to run in heavy rotation smearing the reputation of Qaddoura. Now, Ruckelshaus is closing with an ad from the late Richard Lugar talking about Ruckelshaus's bipartisan reputation and the respect he has from both sides of the aisle. 

Dare I say that Lugar would be absolutely horrified by the ad being run by Ruckelshaus's campaign against Qaddoura. This is not the first misleading tactic Ruckelshaus has used against Qaddoura this cycle, either. Sheila Kennedy says it even better in her post on this ad than I can.

As many on both sides of the aisle have said, Qaddoura doesn't deserve this dastardly ad from a man who has made a career of being above it. 

I guess we misjudged John Ruckelshaus. Lump him in with all the others that will knowingly mislead to stay in power.

Young Signs Term Limits Pledge After 34 Years in General Assembly?

District 35 Candidates: Mike Young (R) and Pete Cowden (D)
Campaign Photos

One of the bellwether races to show national folks how Indiana might swing might just be Indiana's 35th Senate District race between long long long longtime incumbent Mike Young and first-time candidate and combat veteran Pete Cowden.

The 35th District encompasses a large part of Southwestern Marion County in Wayne and Decatur Townships and then shoots out west into Hendricks County picking up Plainfield and other communities nearby. It's very clearly gerrymandered to protect Young, and he's electorally done quite well keeping it close in Marion County and winning handily in Hendricks. 

Term limits have become an issue in this race with mailers showing up in District 35 mailboxes. Surprisingly it's Cowden being targeted by the negative mailers even though he's never been in office before. 

Instead, Young, a man who has been in the Indiana Senate nearly 20 years and who has served in the General Assembly since 1986, is being endorsed by this out-of-state term limits group who is now sending mailings on his behalf. I was 11 when Young was first elected to the Indiana House. I'm now 45.

Did you get that? A man who has been in the General Assembly for 34 years is now being supported by a term limits group based in Florida. Suddenly, Young has seen the light on term limits after his long and undistinguished career in office? Something smells fishy here.

Cowden, for his part, said in a Facebook video that he strongly supports term limits but did not respond to the group's bullying tactics and thus did not sign the group's pledge. 

Mike Young's 34-year legislative career is not what I would call spectacular. For example, if you're interested as to why your vote takes so long to count if you voted absentee, you might be interested to know that Young was the author of 2013's Senate Bill 621. That bill robbed Marion County of its four at-large City-County Council seats, took several appointments from the City-County Council, reduced the size of the township advisory boards and created a central count for absentee ballots in only two counties...Lake and Marion. No one asked for that bill. Even Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard pretended to be surprised by it.

That's just one greatest hit in a long line of head scratchers for Senator Young. In 2017, Young argued against adding fertility fraud as a felony for fertility doctors who use their own sperm or eggs in fertility clinics. In 2020, Young was caught making what many considered to be inappropriate and homophobic remarks about Pete Buttigieg on Facebook. Young also has sought to override the decision of local prosecutors on marijuana charge prosecutions. Young co-authored a bill to send children to the Department of Corrections instead of the juvenile justice system. Young voted yes on Right to Work. He tried to make it more difficult for workers to collect pay owed to them. Young also tried to grandstand on Indiana colleges and universities declaring themselves sanctuary campuses...even though none of Indiana's higher learning institutions did.

There are more instances. Feel free to Google Senator Young for yourself. 

I've seen a lot of laughable things in politics, but a term limits group campaigning against a first-time candidate running against a legislator who's been in office nearly 35 years is right at the tops. Don't buy this crap and dump the mailers you may receive in the nearest recycle or trash bin.

Civility Rules Night in Indiana Gubernatorial Debate

Indiana Gubernatorial Candidates
Eric Holcomb (R), Woody Myers (D), Donald Rainwater (L)
Photos from Official Sources or Campaigns

The Indiana Gubernatorial Debate was Tuesday night, and there was something there for everyone. I'm not sure it changes the race much, but it did provide an opportunity to see the three candidates out there pushing their own values and views.

As far as the red meat goes, there really was little in the way of insults or interruptions fired at each other. By and large, it was an hour of candidates following the rules of the debate and a moderator named Andrew Downs who did a great job keeping the hour moving.

The biggest area of disagreement came on COVID-19 restrictions. Governor Eric Holcomb defended his record on the COVID-19 response despite the fact that since the state moved to Stage 5 of the "Back on Track" plan the cases, deaths and hospitalizations have been on the rise. Holcomb touted his partial shutdown of the state and the so-called mask mandate (which is less of a mandate and more of a pretty pretty please) as reasons why Indiana's dealing with the pandemic well. 

Dr. Woody Myers, the Democratic nominee, was the only candidate to say he would go further than what's going on right now in the state. Holcomb said he'd put restrictions in place and let the courts decide later on those restrictions in order to keep Hoosiers safe. He promised a real mask mandate with teeth if he's elected Governor and promised to listen to scientists. Myers is, of course, a medical doctor.

Then, there was Donald Rainwater. The Libertarian candidate, Rainwater seemed to call into question the science of mask wearing and mask mandates. Unsurprisingly, many of his supporters have been very critical of this part of Governor Holcomb's response. Rainwater also said that COVID-19 had not caused businesses to go out of business in Indiana. He, instead, blamed that on Holcomb's response to the virus. 

Rainwater and Holcomb sparred a bit over the duties granted by the Indiana General Assembly to the Governor of Indiana. Myers criticized the Governor for not calling a special session of the Indiana General Assembly to deal with the pandemic.

Holcomb painted a rosy picture of things in Indiana on the economy touting the number job commitments companies have said they'll bring to Hoosiers. Several times, he praised state agencies for their response to environmental issues and management of the pandemic. Myers and Rainwater both used the opportunity to attack the Governor's record on these topics. 

In his opening and closing statement, Myers promised to reappoint Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jennifer McCormick to the soon-to-be appointed position. McCormick has endorsed Myers over her fellow Republican, Holcomb. Myers also spent time hammering away at Holcomb and the GOP's record on teacher pay and education. Rainwater promised to return schools to local control. Holcomb touted the one-time only pay raises many teachers in many districts negotiated and the commission he formed on teacher pay as reasons why he's dealing with that issue. Holcomb has refused to release the findings of that commission until after the election. 

Guns were also a meaty issue in this debate. Myers said he did not support constitutional carry and endorsed background checks. He also talked about his experience as an ER physician dealing with the effects of gun violence. He touted his Moms Demand Action endorsement. Holcomb noted that Indiana has made it very easy to get a gun permit by making it a free application process. Rainwater came out in complete support of constitutional carry.

Again, it was a very good debate, but I didn't see any Mourdock moments. It's likely that this did not change any hearts or minds other than to make you feel really good about the candidate you were already supporting.

Vote Holcomb Out: Time for a Doctor to Lead COVID Response, Vote Woody Myers

Dr. Woody Myers

Eric Holcomb deserves to lose this race for Governor, but the Indiana Democratic Party is again in no position to help him do it.

The Governor has watched while Indiana's COVID numbers and hospitalization numbers skyrocket for a third time. All the while, he meekly tells people to wear a mask and now has hidden himself away from the media at the COVID briefings each week. Meanwhile, the state is poised to hit 2,000 daily cases sometime in the next few days with a rising positivity rate.

As far as candidates go, you have the Libertarian, Donald Rainwater. Rainwater's supporters were absolutely giddy over an outlying poll showing him in hailing distance of the Governor. More recent polls show Rainwater with more support than normal for a Libertarian, but Holcomb with a wide lead in the race.

The Democrats, meanwhile, are running a medical doctor in Woody Myers. Dr. Myers has come out with reasoned, strong and realistic plans on many topics...not just the Coronavirus. The Indiana Democratic Party is, however, providing little support instead putting their efforts behind electing Jonathan Weinzapfel as Attorney General. 

So, while Woody continues to fight to find support, he's also fighting the battle of name recognition. 

Holcomb looks to be in the driver's seat here a couple of weeks out, but we still have the Gubernatorial Debates coming up on October 22 and 27. Barring some major collapse a la Richard Mourdock's disastrous performance in the 2012 Senatorial Debate, Holcomb probably is the favorite to breeze into a second term.

Still, he doesn't deserve it. He's thrown his initial caution on COVID to the business of politics and has put his own electoral fortunes over the things necessary to control this virus. Governor Holcomb leaves most major decisions to local communities because he clearly is more happy talking about sunshine and rainbows in his "One Indiana" ads than what's truly going on here. Holcomb has taken what was a strong start in his pandemic response and is simply watching while COVID comes back for a third bite at the Hoosier apple.

Rainwater won't take the steps needed to curb this virus. This is why he's received a lot of support from angry Holcomb voters. He's capitalized on those anti-maskers who are mad at Holcomb's ridiculously lax mask policies for the State of Indiana. 

There's only one candidate in the race for Governor who's willing to do something about this pandemic. That's Woody Myers. For that reason, among many others, a vote for Myers is the wise and prudent move. Holcomb must be voted out.

Keep Working Until Biden Wins

So, here we are just a few weeks before the election, and it appears that Joe Biden is doing about as well as can be expected in the polls. I don't think this thing is over yet.

While my prediction based upon the statewide polls puts Joe Biden at a 375 electoral vote mark when everything is said and done, the polls are still too tight to just coast across the finish line...even with Donald Trump continuing to implode.

The biggest thing you can do right now is keep advocating to those persuadable voters you know. Maybe those old-time Republicans that you've met over the years might just be fed up enough with the state of their party to flip over and vote for Biden this year. If that can happen, perhaps we can even turn Indiana blue.

Personally, the only person who could turn Indiana blue is Barack Obama, and he did it with hard work. His 50-state strategy with boots on the ground everywhere in the United States paid off. In the age of COVID-19, Biden can't do that. I think he's running a much better campaign than I expected him to run. He may even have some coattails as the Senate looks more and more likely to flip to Democrat.

Still, nothing will surprise me in 2020 short of aliens coming to Earth. Of course, we'd have to hear endless news conferences of Donald Trump telling everyone to go out and look directly up at the alien craft while Dr. Fauci, the CDC and the Space Force all advise against it. Imagine all of the gun owners firing their weapons up at the ship. Well, yeah, that's hopefully not going to happen.

This has been the longest, strangest year I can remember, so I wouldn't expect the last three months to finish in any other way but nasty. 

Biden winning this election would be a start, but we'll still have a long way to go. Keep working.

Dr. Woody Myers Drops Vid on Racism, Bigotry, Ignorance in Health Care

 

Dr. Woody Myers dropped this 3:07 of truth on the Indiana Gubernatorial race Monday. It's phenomenal, and it should have many more views. This kind of campaign strategy will make a difference in this race. 

Perhaps it's just a coincidence, but Governor Holcomb gave a speech on racial equality and inclusion on Tuesday.

Harris Should Reignite Voters in Battleground States

Kamala Harris
Official Photo

I've been busy these last two weeks with the day job, so I haven't had much time or blogging. I did want to react to Joe Biden's pick of U.S. Senator Kamala Harris to be his running mate.

While I wanted Susan Rice, I have zero issues with Harris joining the ticket. I believe she brings a lot of punch to a campaign whose fortunes continue to be good for November.

That said, Harris, who hails from solid blue California, can help Biden with voter enthusiasm around the margins in the key battleground states where things will be close. 

It's those places where people sat at home in 2016 and didn't get out to vote...states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Those were all states Al Gore, John Kerry and Barack Obama carried. Donald Trump carried them in 2016. Harris reignites those voters.

We all know that this is not a popularity contest. It's a strategic one. On my scorecard, I already have Biden with enough electoral votes to win this thing, but that is far from official. It's going to take a strong convention and a continued strong performance by both candidates to get past a well-funded incumbent who has strong support within his own circle.

Independents and "Never Trumpers" who may have held their nose and voted for Trump in 2016 are

Joe Biden
Official Photo

going to have to come over and vote for Biden and Harris.

I think Joe Biden found himself the candidate who can best help him do it..even more than my choice in Susan Rice. 

Biden's going to have to do better though. He can't get content to hang in Wilmington. He also is going to have to tighten up his performance on the stump and in interviews. He still gaffes way too often. Harris, who is very media-friendly, can help him by taking this role in the campaign. Biden, however, has to do it too.

As we get closer to November 3, more and more Americans get switched on. With a number of controversies to hit Trump on, Biden has to be judicious and hit the ones that can hurt Trump the most. He and Harris have to have laser focus in keeping the campaign simple. 

For me, I'd hit Trump every darn day on his undercutting of the United States Post Office and his pandemic response. Those two issues are things we all can feel. They're also among the umpteen failures of this administration.

So, with Harris aboard the USS Biden, we head into the convention season. This thing isn't over no matter what the polls say. It's just beginning.

Obama Says "Hale Yes!"

Barack Obama
Official Photo

President Barack Obama has weighed in on the 5th Congressional District race in Indiana, and he's saying, "Hale Yes!"

While it's no surprise that POTUS 44 is endorsing Christina Hale, it's quite the commentary on the quality of Hale as a candidate and where we are in Election 2020.

The 5th District rates as a Republican +9 on the Cook Partisan Voting Index. The district extends from the Northside of Indianapolis to the northern boundary of Grant County. While it includes many rural areas, it also includes Anderson, Carmel, Fishers, the western suburbs of Kokomo, Marion, Noblesville and Zionsville among other hamlets such as Hartford City, Tipton and Gas City. 

When initially drawn after the 2010 census, the 5th CD was represented by Dan Burton, the man who once set up a cantaloupe experiment to prove somehow Clinton aide Vince Foster could not have committed suicide. Susan Brooks, who has represented District 5 since 2013, has built a rock-ribbed conservative voting record, but she's avoided some of the hyper-partisan rhetoric other Indiana Republican pols have used in that time. That's why it was a surprise when she decided to take a pass on running for another two-year term. 

Christina Hale
Campaign Photo

The 5th District is changing, and it's been easy to see over the past few elections. Once one of the most red areas in the US, the district battleground is now suburban Hamilton County where traditionally Republican voters have proven open to listening to strong Democrats. 

Both President Obama and Senator Joe Donnelly did very well in Hamilton County. It paved their way to wins in 2008 for Obama and 2012 for Donnelly. For a Democrat running in Indiana, it's crucial to run up the score in Lake, Marion and Monroe Counties and split or win those suburbs of the 5th Congressional District.

Hale, an accomplished former State Representative, is hoping to capitalize on the swing vote nature of those suburban voters. Certainly, her Republican opponent, Victoria Spartz is taking the opposite tack. She's aligned herself as the best friend of Donald Trump and is trying to, no doubt, draw out the strong Republican allies of POTUS 45 in the district. 

With Obama in this race, you can bet you're going to see highest profile D's and R's taking an interest in the Indiana 5th District campaign. That means you're likely going to see the Republican and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committees and all the super PACs weighing in on this one, too.

Yep, if you didn't think it was before, the 5th Congressional District Indiana race is going to be one to watch through November!

Spartz Caught in Lie While Pulling Age-Old Tactic of Failing Campaign

Victoria Spartz
Official Indiana Senate Photo

In politics, it's usually conventional wisdom that the candidate who is behind challenges the incumbent/leading candidate to a debate. If you're the incumbent or the candidate in front, a debate, conventional wisdom says, only gives the challenger a venue to hack into your lead and record.

That's where we are in the 5th District Congressional race today as Indiana state Senator Victoria Spartz challenged former Indiana state Rep. Christina Hale to three debates in a tweet.

The action took many by surprise, including me. The 5th District is an open seat in November because Susan Brooks is retiring from Congress. The Republican legislator was first elected to the seat in 2012. Her decision to not pursue election was a bit of a surprise. The district rates a +9 Republican district according to Cook Partisan Voting Index.

Makes you wonder if Spartz has some sort of damaging internal polling in her hands showing her behind Hale. While Indiana's 5th District Congressional race has recently been rated as a toss-up by many of the prognosticators who look at polling data, it's clear Spartz, the Republican nominee, believes she's behind Hale, the
Democratic nominee.

Christina Hale
Campaign Photo

That's not all. Spartz flat out lied about Hale's record while laying down the challenge. In her tweet thread, she accused Hale of being a liberal and accused her of opposing the reforms of Governors Daniels, Pence and Holcomb, but Spartz's timeline doesn't match up. Hale didn't serve with anyone other than Pence.

Hale defeated a five-term Republican incumbent named Cindy Noe by 51 votes in a then-Republican 87th District to become a member of the Indiana General Assembly. She was sworn in in January of 2013. She then was reelected to the seat in 2014 with another narrow victory over a well-funded GOP opponent. She was on her way to a third reelection in 2016 when she was asked to join John Gregg as his Lieutenant Governor candidate. She left the legislature to pursue that office.

Given the razor-thin margin of the 87th District when Hale represented it, it's laughable that Spartz, who in May just ran her first real race versus voters for elected office, would say today on Twitter that Hale has "reliably liberal" policies.

So, to review, Spartz, who was spotted just a few days ago campaigning without wearing a facemask, lied about Hale's record in the process of pulling a classic move of a failing campaign in challenging an opponent to a debate.

It's not been a good couple of weeks for Senator Spartz.

Biden Camp Releases Great Sit Down Conversation with Obama

Take 15 minutes and watch this important video. This conversation between former President Barack Obama and his Vice President and current Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

It's excellent.

Spartz Campaign Releases Photo with Unmasked Candidate on Trail

Victoria Spartz
Official Indiana Senate Photo

Indiana State Senator Victoria Spartz is in a neck-and-neck battle with, in the interest of full disclosure, my friend, former State Rep. Christina Hale in Indiana's 5th Congressional District.

Because the race is so tight, it's no wonder that the candidates are out and about knocking doors and talking to voters even in the middle of this pandemic. In that vein, Spartz released a photo on Twitter of a particular moment from her campaigning on Saturday.

The photo, which I'll link here, shows Spartz with one of her daughters campaigning on the doorstep of a voter. The Republican and her daughter both have masks, but they are not wearing them. The voter is also unmasked. None of them are demonstrating social distancing.

First off, let's be fair. I don't know the voter. It's possible Spartz may have known the voter and the woman may have been screened somehow before the photo. I also don't know where the photo was taken. It could have been in Hamilton County or maybe even somewhere else in the expansive district, but, if the candidate was in Marion County, she was in violation of the mask mandate put into effect July 9 by Mayor Joe Hogsett.

Plus, it's just not safe to be going around these days knocking doors without a mask. After all, you're coming into contact with a wide variety of people on your journey knocking doors. If you're going to stop and get up close with people, the least you can do, under CDC recommendations, is to mask up when social distancing isn't possible.

City-County Councillor Ali Brown, who represents part of the 5th District, stated in a tweet that Spartz's behavior was unwelcome in her part of Marion County. "Please don't knock in my district if you aren't going to do the most basic thing to protect constituents. I care about the people who live here," Brown tweeted.

COVID-19 is no joke, and it's something candidates and campaigns are going to have to deal with in every action they take not only to keep themselves and their families safe but to keep the people they come into contact with safe. In the same way that candidates take great care to make sure their image is cultivated in the most positive light, candidates are going to have to demonstrate that they are willing to take steps like masking up.

Of course, there's also the possibility that Spartz may not care about masking up and being safe while door knocking. I think it's fair for reporters to ask her that question now given the photo her official campaign Twitter account sent out.

Education On Ballot in 2020 Gubernatorial Race

Woody Myers
Campaign Photo

I rarely post about my day job on this blog because I try to be like the old McDonalds McDLT.

For those of you who might have forgotten, that sandwich was marketed as keeping your cold ingredients on a completely opposite side as the hot burger. I try to keep politics and education apart on this blog because I am a teacher in my day job. Sometimes, though, it's unavoidable especially when the gubernatorial race is making news in our state.

On education policy, I could not disagree on policy much more than the Republicans and Governor Eric Holcomb. Indiana ranks near the bottom in spending per pupil and teacher pay, but teachers in the Hoosier State rank dead last in income growth since 2002. Indiana also has one of the most robust voucher systems in the United States taking money out of the public schools and putting it in the hands of private schools. Indiana is one of the top states for charter school laws as well.

Traditional public schools, especially in Indiana's most populated areas, typically have found themselves struggling. Indiana's major cities have been shuttering traditional public schools and have been trying to make ends meet financially as the money has been squeezed away from them.

Through all this, Indiana remains in the top half in outcomes and school rankings. USA Today placed Indiana schools 18th. US News and World Report ranked Indiana schools 24th. So, despite all the struggles, teachers are doing their jobs.

That's why it was disappointing this morning to wake up and hear Woody Myers, the Democratic nominee for Governor describe Indiana education as "poor" and grading it as a "D+". He made these comments in an Instagram video on his Educators for Woody Myers Instagram page.

Eric Holcomb
Official Indiana Photo

Myers goes on to talk about many of the challenges that I've detailed here in this post, but I find it hard to get past that first statement in his video where he talks about the quality of education in Indiana as poor.

Maybe it's just me being too invested, but I think Indiana teachers deserve better than a D+. There's no question Indiana schools need to do better especially for our most vulnerable students. We do have many challenges, but, in my biased opinion, I believe teachers do what they can in traditional public schools despite the hand their districts are dealt by the Republican-led state government.

Listen, I'm voting for Woody Myers. Eric Holcomb is just wrong on education policy altogether. He and the Republicans that control education policy value State Fairgrounds Swine Barn renovations over teacher pay. Holcomb and his friends put in ridiculous 15-hour externships in as part of professional development and license renewal. Yeah, he isn't right on any of that.

The next Governor will also appoint the next Superintendent of Public Instruction and eight of the 10 members of the State Board of Education. With the Superintendent, that's NINE of the eleven seats. This is critical to understand. The voters, thanks to Republicans, have lost any voice on that board except through the Governor they elect. I know that a Governor Myers Administration wouldn't believe Indiana teachers are bad, but we need to hear more uplifting messages on how are schools and our teaches are succeeding and a clear message placing the blame for where we are right now with funding, teacher pay, and other issues right where it belongs. Imagine how much better we could be doing with a Governor who valued teachers and traditional public schools.

That's on the desk of Governor Holcomb, his predecessors Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence and the Republican supermajority.

Biden Camp Running Strong, but It's July

Joe Biden

The legendary basketball coach at Ben Davis High School, Steve Witty, always used to say, "The toughest thing to do in sports is exactly what's expected of you."

He didn't know that I'd use that quote here and in this context, but I think that quote could also apply to politics. The toughest thing is sometimes doing what is expected, and Joe Biden is running a much-better-than-expected campaign for President of the United States by simply keeping that metaphorical golf ball right in the fairway. It appears that he's taking some advice to heart.

It all starts with the ads the Biden campaign is releasing, and each ad released has been on message, on point, uplifting and positive. 

A great example is this spectacular ad. Each one plays into Biden's strong suit: his empathy. 

But beyond his ad campaign, Biden is also nailing the other aspects of a modern campaign. In the past week, we've seen where he's talking with Bernie Sanders about platform and Elizabeth Warren  about the economy and is listening to them. He's held events with Pete Buttigieg. He's keeping his chief rivals for the nomination more than just involved as supporters. 

Barack Obama allegedly advised Biden to keep his speeches and interviews short and keep his tweets in a similar vein. That's discipline, and that's what we've seen from the former Senator from Delaware and Vice President. Biden, unlike President Donald Trump, demonstrates this in his public speeches by sticking to the script and staying on message. For someone who at times has been known for his gaffes, this is very important.

All the while, Biden is letting the Super PACs do the dirty work on Trump. The Lincoln Project and Vote Vets both have hit Trump hard. The Lincoln Project's Whispers ad that dropped last week is one of the most powerful ads I've seen, and it's targeted right at what Donald Trump values...loyalty.

Of course, the best thing for Biden to do right now is stay visible, which he is. Follow the recommendations of the CDC on rallies, which his is, and continue to let Donald Trump be Donald Trump. The amount of lies, distortions and offensive things that come out of Trump's mouth and social media accounts are unprecedented not to mention his corrupt actions.

With this much of a wind behind him, Biden is now expanding the electoral map in response to recent polls showing him very competitive in Texas where a Democrat has not won since 1976. Today, Biden launched an ad in the Lone Star State which never once mentions Donald Trump and focuses on recommendations to stop the spread of COVID-19. This means Trump will now have to play defense in Texas, a state he carried by nine percentage points in 2016. Polls also show Biden with leads in Arizona and Florida.

All of this positive news comes with a healthy dose of caution. We are still some four months from the General Election. In the day and age we live in, anything can happen. It's time to keep working.

Rokita Squeaks Past Hill, Will Face Weinzapfel

Tad Rakouta
U.S. Congress Photo

Indiana Republicans have spoken. Curtis Hill's political career is over, at least for now, and Todd Rokita is back off the dust heap.

Rokita, former Indiana Secretary of State and U.S. Representative, had not had much luck with Republican voters lately. He took a risk and left a safe seat in the 4th Congressional District to run for U.S. Senate against fellow Rep. Luke Messer and State Rep. Mike Braun. He finished a distant second. Rokita also tried to become the Republican's nominee for Governor after Mike Pence left the ticket in 2016. Eric Holcomb obviously won that battle.

Despite all the negative and really creepy things Hill has done in his time as AG, Rokita could only muster 53 percent of the Republican delegate vote in the final round vs. Hill. John Westercamp and Nate Harter also ran for the nomination. The GOP used ranked choice voting in the race which was conducted by mail.

Jonathan Weinzapfel
Campaign Photo

For Hill, it probably could be argued that despite the tacit support of President Donald Trump that the investigation over groping allegations and the resulting loss of his law license for 30 days took him down. Hill's political crash and burn marks a new beginning for Rokita, a man as known for his many wacky statements and disgusting political positions as his ambition. Still, it's a stunning ending to this chapter for Hill. While political comebacks are always a possibility, this seems like a pretty big and certainly final thud for Hill, once the top votegetter of any state officeholder in Indiana history.

Curtis Hill
Official Photo

Hill's loss changes the trajectory of the November race as Democrat Jonathan Weinzapfel, the former Mayor of Evansville, will now face Rokita. On the face of it, it's an easy pivot for the Dems and Weinzapfel. We've already seen sophomoric tactics out of Rokita whose campaign misspelled Weinzapfel's name multiple times in a news release after the former Mayor won the Democratic nod last month over state Senator Karen Tallian. Expect Dems to hit Rokita hard on some of his worst public statements, his ambition and his alleged mistreatment of his congressional staff. It will be an uphill battle for Weinzapfel. A good showing by Joe Biden in Indiana could help Weinzapfel.

What's next for Curtis Hill is anyone's guess. In his spare time, he's an Elvis impersonator. Maybe he can do that. What is clear is that boorish and inappropriate behavior was just not what the GOP wanted this year in their Attorney General nominee.

They didn't want it so much that they chose Todd Rokita.

Biden Launches Effective Ad

If you haven't seen this ad from Vice President Joe Biden, take a gander. It's absolutely brilliant.

The ad strikes the perfect tone for the political climate today. It avoids negativity and strikes a completely different tone than the current climate in Washington. It stirs "the feels", and it hearkens back to the themes of the Obama 2008 campaign which became a movement for hope and change.

As the 2020 election season rolls on, it's becoming clear that the political climate is playing into Biden's strength. Joe knows empathy. Joe knows compassion. He's built his career on it. Along the way, he has overcome personal tragedy and professional disappointment. Pardon the cliche, like America, Biden's been down, but he's hard to knock out. He's told that story about his father's advice that when he's gotten knocked down that he hears his dad's voice say, "Joey, get up!"

Biden's already been down and out. He went from a dreadful start to his campaign to the nomination in the blink of a political eye. I admit, I wrote him off many months ago. In fact, I wrote a blog post about it here. In true Biden fashion, the kid from Scranton is kicking, and he's kicking serious tail at the moment.

More ads like this and a campaign strategy that incorporates that "Duty to Care" mentality will go a long way in a campaign season that sees the electorate screaming out for someone to unite us. That's where Joe Biden excels.

Joe Biden has never had this kind of political wind at his back in his two previous runs for President. Still, Biden must run as if he is 20 points behind because Donald J. Trump will lie, cheat and steal if he has to to win. Running up the score is going to be critical. Even at 77, I think that the political gods have delivered us the right person for this moment in time. Now, it's up to America to seal the deal and start to roll back this nightmarish four years we've been experiencing together by electing Joe Biden.

Post First Four Debate Thoughts...

A few thoughts after the Dems debates...

1.) If you want the candidates to hug, sing "Kumbaya", and have Marianne Williamson to bless them with crystals, I'd say you don't understand a primary. This is the battle to beat a very formidable incumbent. Say what you want about Trump, but he knows how to make people look at him and control the debate.

2.) The moderators have no responsibility to ask favorable or softball questions. They are challenging the candidates and their positions. If that means playing the opposite side to do it, they will.


3.) If you believe Joe Biden is the answer to Donald Trump, I'd love to offer you my beachhouse near Area 51 in Nevada.

4.) Howard Dean was the frontrunner now in the 2004 cycle. Hillary Clinton was the frontrunner now in the 2008 cycle. This thing is not over. No votes have been cast. We're mostly grading candidates on national polls when the early caucus in Iowa and the primaries will determine who faces the Resident.

5.) I'll be glad to reduce the number of candidates in the debates. I'm telling you...if you have a flaw in your record, it will be exploited. You'd better have an answer like Cory Booker did. We talked more about Kool-Aid than Biden's "Stop and Frisk" attack, right?

6.) The party has moved left of Obama. Even Obama realizes that.

My advice? Get yourself a message that doesn't involve Donald Trump. Ignore him unless he directly attacks and then deflect. Do not engage him directly unless you have the metaphorical shutdown line because he can wiggle out of any rhetorical wrestling hold.

Forget Impeachment Democrats

Sit down please. Let's have some real talk, fellow Democrats.

Let's chat about impeachment. I'm going to tell how this plays out if you turn down Impeachment Avenue.

The process in the House will take time. Hearings, drawing up the Articles of Impeachment, etc. I'm sure this process will take us into early 2020. Let's say the House votes along party lines and Donald Trump is impeached. He leaves office and Mike Pence takes over, right?

WRONG.

Even if Donald Trump is impeached by a wide majority in the House, the proceedings move to the Senate. There, the circus continues. After let's say a month of trial, debate, histrionics and other fun presided over by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Senate votes.

Let's say the trial compels two of 53 Republicans to join the Democrats in voting for conviction and removal from office. That's still only 49 votes. It's not even a majority. You need 67 votes, and Donald Trump could pick up Jared Kushner and smack Chief Justice Roberts in the face with him during the proceedings and still the necessary 14 Republicans won't vote him out of office.

So, you have, for the third time in history, a President of the United States who is impeached by the House and acquitted by the Senate.

But, Donald Trump is no ordinary President. He thrives on this crap. This time, there will be no apology in the Rose Garden or a promise to do better. This President will go on a "whistle stop" golfing tour holding rallies in Trump Country drawing out every supporter he can find who will be stronger than ever behind their man. 

Every day, Trump and his loyalists will tweet out "FULL EXONERATION! FULL ACQUITTAL!" in caps on Twitter. He'll blather on about how the Democrats are simply haters and harrassers. His base hardens.

Meanwhile, the Democrats still can't pick a strategy or a candidate. I fear that my party will continue to fumble, stumble, and tumble and rather than come up with a message and an inspiring candidate that can defeat Donald Trump, they'll have their shoestrings tied together and be given a metaphorical wedgie by a man who knows how to do it.

You don't play this game with the master showman. Donald Trump knows how to play something for a spectacle. An impeachment aquittal will give him everything he needs.

And you know who knows all this? The vote counter herself, Nancy Pelosi. You can say what you want about Speaker Pelosi, but the minute she decides to proceed with impeachment is the moment that she knows there are 67 votes in the Senate. Until then, it ain't happenin'. Follow Speaker Pelosi's lead. She knows what she's doing.

The best course of action is to move on. That's right. I said it, Democrats. Move on. 

Donald Trump absolutely deserves to be impeached, but it's not politically possible because the Senate is broken. Our only recourse is to redouble efforts and make sure that we nominate the right Democrat for President.

So, what about the Rule of Law? Well, that's difficult. Trump's a problem for sure, but I swear this is not how he's going to be ousted from office. It's only going to be repudiation at the ballot box that he's out of office, in my opinion anyway. The way to end the Trump Administration is to beat him. There will be time to hold him accountable, but that's when he is out of office in January 2021. I think there's a road map in the Mueller Report for that.

When it comes to President Trump, forget impeachment and focus on November 3, 2020...or, if you like spectacles with no possibility of anything coming out in your favor...by all means, impeach away.

Open Letter to Joe Biden: You're Blowing This But You Can Fix It

Hey, Vice President Biden,
So, you had a bad debate right? You've had a bad couple of weeks, right?

You're still in the lead, so there's time for a time out to learn from your mistakes.

First of all, it's not 1973 or 1985 or whenever anymore. Get out of the mindset. It's 2019, and it's time to wake up. No more "Sleepin' Joe" because Donald Trump is ready to nail you on it. Don't hook your wagon to the past. Acknowledge it, but move on.

You've been out of the game long enough to tell people you've evolved in a major way on many issues. You can also find another way to tout your accomplishments other than saying you worked with segregationists to illustrate that you can work with those you have disagreements.

The biggest thing that you need to focus on is not the past. As the still frontrunner, you need to focus on Donald Trump.

Be disciplined. You're fightin' Joe from Scranton, but resist that urge to be defensive Joe. They're coming after you, but you've been in tougher fights. Remind them that you're Joe Biden in a different way. What's past is past should be your mantra. It's what you're going to do in 2021 when you head into that Oval Office that will win votes.

I know there's an empathetic fighter in there, Joe. I've seen it. Remind people that you have ridden that train home for years. You have the potential to charm, and I'd love to see you show some humility rather than defensiveness and bitterness. It doesn't mean you're weak. On the contrary, with all you've been through, you're stronger than most. Get that swagger back, Mr. Vice President.

Your New Motto:
"Listen, what's done is done. I've been in public life for many years, and I no longer hold many of the views I did when I was younger. What's important now is the future of this nation. I've learned from my past that we can make mistakes and still build for a brighter tomorrow. I was honored when Barack Obama chose me to help him make history. Let's continue to say 'Yes We Can'. Focus our sights on a new tomorrow with our eyes open.

I still want to believe in you, but I can't right now. Win me over. If you win the nomination, you'll have my vote. Make me proud to cast it for you.

Good Luck,
Jon

America, Meet Pete

Mayor Pete Buttigieg is set to announce his intentions for 2020 tomorrow in South Bend.

Almost everyone with a pulse knows what that announcement will probably be. He's going to say he's running for President of the United States. He's run a sensational campaign thus far, and this will take it to the next level.

He's done almost everything right, in my view, thus far. His campaign's been like a great roast in the crock pot. Its simmered all day long and now it's ready to go. I've been, frankly, shocked at his streaking rise to the top of the deck in the Democratic field. I mean, I always knew Pete was special, but I never thought a small city Mayor could do what he's done at 37 years old. He's a major contender in 2020.

It's the stuff of movies.

I first met him in 2010 at the IDEA Convention in French Lick. Turning the corner off 150 and heading down on 56 into the town, you saw these seemingly hundreds of homemade yard signs that read, "Meet Pete". It reminded me of the "See Rock City" and "See Ruby Falls" signs you see as you travel the South. I remember saying to my friend, Chris Jackson, "Who the hell's this Pete guy?"

After seeing a few friends and chatting around a bit, we finally met Pete in the guilded lobby of the resort. Maybe it's just my mind misremembering things, but I seem to remember getting a sticker that said, "Met Pete" from his campaign after you did meet Buttigieg. Regardless, it was brilliant marketing and a unique way to build conversation.

My friendship with Pete grew after that. He spoke at the Decatur Township Democratic Club that year, and he was a guest a few times on my Indiana Talks show after he was elected Mayor of South Bend. We've exchanged social media messages since. I've seen him and Chasten at party events over the years before and after they were married. I sent Pete condolences after I heard about the death of his father. He responded with a heartfelt thank you. Most recently, I fired off a congratulatory message to Pete after the town hall appearance on CNN which I believe sparked his rise in the polls that continues to this moment. I recieved another personal response from him the next day.

To me, that means that all this has not gone to his head.

It won't. That's because, as I tell everyone, Pete is exactly the person you see on TV. He's calm, cool, incredibly smart, frank, earnest, and honest. He's humble and contientious. He's exactly the opposite of the current man in the White House.

In a way, we're all turning into French Lick and seeing those signs. "Meet Pete" and it seems America is liking the man they're meeting.

I endorse him not only as an Indiana Democrat and a friend, but I endorse him because he's going to be President of the United States, someday. Given the current occupant, why shouldn't that be now? President Obama said, "We are the ones we've been waiting for," and I think Pete gets that.

Pete, if you read this, good luck. I'm hoping you'll be my President, but I'm glad you'll always be my friend.