Mike Young, in Statehouse since 1986, Signs Congressional Term Limits Pledge...LOL

 

Mike Young has been in the Indiana General Assembly since 1986. 

That's it. 

That's the blog post.

Two Weeks To Go: Election Hodge Podge

Lots of different things to talk about, so I decided to just post this hodge podge look at everything I'm thinking about. 

• Let's begin with the 5th District race between Victoria Spartz and Christina Hale. The campaign has taken a particularly negative turn. The PACs and the Spartz campaign have been the main culprits launching pretty much spaghetti against the wall attacks at Hale hoping something sticks. As Mary Beth Schneider reported on Twitter a few days ago, any negative policies the GOP says Hale voted for that became law had to also have been supported by a ton of Republicans too in the General Assembly. Indiana has had a GOP supermajority in both houses now for several sessions. Hale's ads continue to hammer home the health care debate over preexisting conditions. To my count, her campaign has explicitly only lobbed two negative ads at Spartz. One that was on health care where the State Senator is on tape saying health care is "not federal issue" and another with a couple giving a testimonial on how the Affordable Care Act helped their child. The PACs and the DCCC have hammered Spartz hard with some cringeworthy but probably effective ads. I would love to see some recent polling on this one. Given the amount of money coming in, I'd say it's probably close still. Hale and Spartz each released ads in the past showing each with a lead. Independent polls have slightly favored Hale.
• The 5th District race has kind of taken the air out of the other Congressional races in Indiana, but Jeannine Lee Lake's race in the 6th against Mike Pence's brother, Greg, has gotten attention for the wrong reasons. Lake has told WTHR that she has been receiving threats and that her campaign RV was vandalized. Lake also went on Facebook Live following an incident where someone allegedly fired a weapon in her vicinity. It's sad where politics have led us in 2020. My best to Lake as she continues her courageous attempt to unseat Greg Pence. Let's hope that law enforcement helps keep the candidate safe as she continues campaigning.
• The race for Governor should be ramping up, but, as Adam Wren reported in Politico, the campaign has become a referendum on Eric Holcomb's mask mandate. Libertarian Donald Rainwater has found broad support and has more cash on hand than Democrat Woody Myers by his staunch opposition to Holcomb's pandemic response. Myers is trying to open up the conversation on doing more in Indiana to control the surging COVID-19 case numbers, hospitalizations, and deaths. It's really a shame Myers has not been able to break through. In the Politico piece by Wren, former Indiana House Speaker and 2012 and 2016 Democratic nominee for Governor, John Gregg goes off calling Myers the "most disappointing candidate the Democrats have put forward" for Governor in his lifetime. I like John, but I don't think he needs to be criticizing too heavily on that regard. Yes, Myers has struggled to raise money and campaign in what should be a downwind season for Dems, but Gregg didn't run a perfect campaign in either of his runs, either. Holcomb remains the heavy favorite. Will he get 50 percent, though? I think you'll see him around 55 percent on Election Night. Then, without the need for reelection as Indiana Governors are term limited maybe he'll return to the pre-election season Holcomb who might move Indiana back on the "Back on Track" plan out of Stage 5. Since moving to Stage 5, Indiana has seen cases of coronavirus explode.
• Which leads me to the next point: The Indiana Democratic Party. Boy, have we reached the same crossroads again here. The Indiana Dems have proven that they cannot run a multiple fronts campaign again forcing all their resources in one or two directions. This time, the Dems seem to be placing their advocacy behind a few state races, Hale's race (though much more federal and PAC dollars seem at play here) and the race for Indiana Attorney General between Jonathan Weinzapfel and Todd Rokita. All the while, John Zody continues to hold on to his Chairmanship. It's understandable that Dems would have an uphill battle in Indiana, but it shouldn't be, in my estimation, nearly as bad as it is right now. 
• The fact that Republicans are running ads in the Indianapolis market for several General Assembly races really underscores how concerned that they are about them. While they are in no danger of losing their majority, Dems could pick up enough seats to end the supermajority in the House at least. There are also some great opportunities in the Senate where progressive voices could gobble up Republican seats. It bears watching.

That's it for now. As I write this, I'm watching Colts football. Back to the game.

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.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 1933-2020

On Friday, the world lost one of the most notable women in American history. Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away in Washington, D.C.

By now, you've, I'm sure, heard all the speculation about what's going to happen to the seat that Justice Ginsburg has held for the last 27 years. It's interesting to speculate about everything that might occur, but I want to take a moment and appreciate the cultural icon for the woman she was.

Without Ruth Bader Ginsburg's work and her courage, who knows where we might be as a society today? She argued for women's rights in front of the Supreme Court as an attorney, and she won major decisions that have had ripple effects today. As a working mother, she showed that someone could be successful as both a parent and in a career. 

Beyond all of these things you've heard of, there's another thing to admire about Justice Ginsburg. That was the relationship she built with her complete opposite on the Court, Justice Antonin Scalia. Hearing the tales of their travels and their relationship should bring us all hope that someday we can truly thrive even if we disagree with each other.

I'm not sure we'll ever see the likes of Justice Ginsburg again. She was truly a special woman who became larger than life even though she stood just 61 inches tall. We can all be better by living by her example as a fighter who never gave up and who served her country with distinction, vigor and honor.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg's memory will surely be a blessing to us all. Let's hope her humanity guides us into these very rough waters ahead.