Opportunity Knocks, Will the Democrats Answer?

The Indiana Republican Party is going to you know where in a handmaid's tale...er...handbasket, and the Indiana Democratic Party stands ready to scoop up the opportunity and dunk it in the basketball ring.

So...um, about that.

Opportunity has not just knocked. It's kicked the door in. As a Democrat, part-time blogger and political observer/hack, I have to wonder if anyone's home.

Yeah, the GOP has nominated self-proclaimed Christian Nationalist Micah Beckwith as its Lieutenant Governor candidate. He pairs with Mike Braun about as well as a tie on Mike's campaign buttondown. Braun is the sensible one on the ticket, which is scary since he once questioned the Supreme Court's ruling on Loving vs. Virginia. The landmark case that prohibited discrimination against interracial couples wanting to marry.

Braun, a U.S. Senator whose main accomplishment in office so far is to get on TV as much as possible, is running on a ticket with the vulnerabilities of a computer still running Windows 95. There's Jim Banks, the crazy U.S. Representative and Trump syncopant who seems to think the WNBA officiating is cause for a Congressional inquiry. There's Todd Rokita who is, well, Todd Rokita. We all know him by this point. That brings us back to Beckwith who is about as qualified to run a state as I am to run a Weightwatchers aka WW franchise. 

This should all be easy, right? Just point out who these people are and tout your superior candidates. 

On the Dem side, there's Jennifer McCormick, the former Republican State Schools Superintendent who lost her position due to the elimination of direct elections for that position. There's Valerie McCray, a clinical psychologist, who wants to be your next U.S. Senator. She's the first Black woman to sit on a statewide ticket in Indiana. 

Then, at the convention, voters will have to choose between attorney Destiny Wells, a combat veteran, and attorney Beth White, the former Marion County Clerk and Deputy Mayor of Indianapolis, to get the candidate for Attorney General to face Rokita.

That also leads us to the Democratic Lieutenant Governor candidate to run with McCormick. Uh...well...you see, what happened was...we'll get back to you about that. Bob Kern is running at the convention, and he may actually be the nominee since no one else seems to want to step up and run. Kern, a perennial candidate, has an interesting past that he never hides from but would be no doubt fodder for the GOP's attacks should he get the nomination. 

So, here we are. A golden opportunity to do something in the state of Indiana as Democrats and...uh...the party doesn't have its ducks in a row. It's not surprising. Since the Dems last held state office, and even before that, it's been a struggle. Evan Bayh got pummeled by Todd Young. Joe Donnelly got retired by Braun. Pete Buttigieg left the state for Michigan leaving his former chief of staff, Mike Schmuhl, in charge. There are good people in place, but my fellow Dems just don't have anything together right now.

With the dumpster fire that's happening on the right in the Republican Party at this time, Democrats MUST muster some defense. McCormick is a very good candidate. I just fear that the infrastructure that used to be strong in this state on the Democratic side has been lost to time. Our Democratic Party that used to punch above its weight seems to lost that fighting edge. 

It's time to get it back. We cannot see another election where Todd Rokita, Mike Braun, Jim Banks and now, Micah Beckwith, go unchallenged. Get your house in order, Dems! In the end, the calculus still favors the GOP, but they have to at least know we were here and we're not going to take this lying down.

The Return of the Mitch?

 

Mitch Daniels
Photo: Purdue University

Purdue President Mitch Daniels has been in the news a lot lately. 

First came the somewhat surprising news that he would be retiring from his post as President of Purdue University. Then, nearly immediately, the speculation began about what the former Indiana Governor and Federal Budget Director under George W. Bush might do in his retirement.

Hint: the speculation is that he's not moving to the Villages in Florida.

Politico's Adam Wren, one of Indiana's finest political reporters, has reported that friends of Daniels say he is "fascinated" by the idea of returning to the Governor's Mansion that he never lived in when he was Governor of Indiana from 2005-2013. Daniels defeated incumbent Governor Joe Kernan in 2004, and he easily won reelection over former U.S. Representative Jill Long Thompson in 2008. The term-limited Daniels left office and quickly was named the President of Purdue University in 2013. Since then, he's been the head Boilermaker.

Wren also floated the possibility on Twitter that some Republicans are trying to convince Daniels to challenge Joe Hogsett for Mayor of Indianapolis in 2023. Hogsett, a former U.S. Attorney, is also a possible Gubernatorial candidate in 2024. Many forget that Hogsett was once Indiana's Secretary of State back in 1989. He won election to his own term by beating Bill Hudnut in 1990. He also lost statewide races in 1994 for U.S. Senate and in 2004 for Attorney General. Hogsett definitely has been around the block a time or two of Indiana's 92 counties and is also a former Indiana Democratic Party Chair.

Whatever Daniels decides to do, it should be an interesting time as the statewide GOP becomes more and more another agent of Donald J. Trump's hostile takeover of the party. Trump loyalist Diego Morales bounced Secretary of State Holli Sullivan at the Republican Convention on Saturday. He'll be their statewide ticket leader in November. The GOP also passed a very far right platform on Saturday signaling the continued movement away from a guy like Daniels and his former Chief of Staff and curent Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb. There's not a guarantee that Daniels, who by most accounts would be far more to the center than to where his party now sits politically, would win a primary against a Trumper like Jim Banks or Mike Braun or Todd Rokita.

Personally, I think Mitch is enjoying the attention having been out of the political spotlight for a while. It must be nice to still be wanted by some in the party. The next few months will reveal much about Daniels' future plans as well as those who might run against him. 

Four Indiana GOP Reps Vote to Keep Taney Bust, Confederate Statues in Statuary Hall

Dred Scott
Public Domain Photo

The House of Representatives voted by a wide margin, 305-113, to remove the bust of Roger Taney, the Chief Justice who wrote the infamous Dred Scott decision, from the National Statuary Hall. The body also voted to remove several Confederate statues from the Hall.

Unfortunately for those backing the removal, that's only one part of the story. Even with the House's vote, the bust of Taney and the Confederate statues are unlikely to be removed, at least this year. The Senate would also have to pass its own measure, and Donald Trump would have to sign off. Even in the unlikely event the Senate does really anything at all, Trump's been on the record as defending statues of Confederates and folks like Taney.

Both of Indiana's Democratic Congressmen, André Carson and Pete Visclosky, along with Republicans Jackie Walorski, Susan Brooks and Trey Hollingsworth voted in the affirmative to remove the statues. Unbelievably or maybe believably, four of Indiana's Republican Congressional House Delegation voted no and in defense of keeping the Confederates and Taney in the Hall.

This dubious "Hall of Shame" includes 3rd District Congressman Jim Banks, 4th District Congressman Jim Baird, 6th District Congressman Greg Pence and 8th District Congressman Larry Buschon. All four of these men served in the United States Armed Forces. Hoosiers need to ask Baird, Buschon, Banks and Pence why they believe Taney and the Confederates deserve to continue to be honored in the Capitol.