I'm Sure This Means Something...

From the email bag:

We would like to invite you to join us this coming Saturday, November 7, 2009 at the Keith & Lori Davis Farm in Ramsey, Indiana for a reception and lunch with Congressman Mike Sodrel.

Congressman Sodrel will be joining us on the Davis Farm during this beautiful fall harvest season before he heads to be a guest speaker at the Tea Party Rally in Corydon. The reception and lunch on the farm will start at 1:00 p.m. and should be over by 3:00 p.m..

It should be a fun event and perfect time of the year to enjoy the fall harvest on the farm. No specific agenda other than to get good friends and Republicans together to talk about the important election next year, and the state of national politics.

It was a good week for Republicans with great victories in Virginia and New Jersey. America is awake, paying attention to Washington and they don't like what they see. It appears the "Representative, Non-Representatives" are not listening. With 2010 just around the corner I am sure we will have a lot to talk about Saturday.

As always with this topic Congressman Sodrel always has some interesting insights into the happenings in Washington. It will be a great time to talk about the issues and about our slate for 2010. Heck you never know what can come out of these events and get togethers. Sometimes new candidates are recruited and surprise announcements shock us all. It is important that we have a great slate for 2010 to take back the House of Representatives in Indianapolis and Washington. Fill the courthouses across the state with Republicans and prepare for a great election year.

So we hope you can take time to join us for a couple hours at Keith & Lori Davis' for a great time with Congressman Sodrel. No need to bring anything but yourself and maybe a lawn chair.

For those of you that may not be in a hurry you might want to go on to Corydon after (its only a 10 minute drive) and join the organizers hosting the Corydon Tea Party Rally on the lawn of Indiana First State Capitol Building. There are several speakers planned to address the gathering including Congressman Sodrel and State Treasurer Richard Murdock. We will have directions and information at the Farm Reception for those who want to go.

We hope to see you at the Reception and Lunch with Congressman Mike Sodrel this Saturday from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.. Great time to catch up on Republican politics and get ready for 2010.

Whatever could it mean?

Remember, Folks, Tuesday's Election Had Nothing to Do with Obama

Really...


A Deeds campaign door hanger featuring Obama. One could be forgiven for thinking that Virginia voters didn't want to stand with Obama, given the margin by which Deeds lost.

Truly...


A billboard featuring Obama and Jon Corzine. New Jersey voters didn't "keep it going," did they?

Honestly...


And a flyer touting Deeds' importance to Obama. If Obama wanted Creigh Deeds to be elected to help him, Virginia voters weren't terribly obliging.

Yup...

Nothing to do with Obama...

Nothing...

And if you believe that, I have a deficit-neutral health care bill that I want to sell you.

The Conservative Independents

Geraghty has some interesting thoughts about Tuesday's results:

I would note that for the past year, we've been hearing about how fewer and fewer voters self-identify as Republicans; thus, pollsters insist, Republicans make up a smaller percentage of the electorate than they have in many years.

Of course, most of those frustrated departing Republicans, angry over Bush, or McCain, or high spending, or Mark Foley, or Harriet Miers, or what have you, go on to become independents; very few voters flip directly from one party to another overnight.

So you end up with a pool of independents that is more conservative, and more dominated by anti-tax, anti-spending ex-Republicans. And then, in this election, we've seen the atmosphere shaped by runaway spending by a Democratic Congress and a Democratic president, with unemployment approaching 10 percent.

So we shouldn't be that surprised to see Republicans winning independents by a wide margin; not too long ago, those voters identified themselves as Republicans.

Just Who Is the Real News Network?

The Campaign Spot:

MSNBC Surrenders, Chooses Not to Cover Election Night. No, Really.

It is pretty darn astounding that with all of the insistence from the White House that Fox News Channel is "not a real news network," their preferred channel, MSNBC, did not have live coverage at 10 p.m. Eastern on ELECTION NIGHT. They reran Olbermann's 8 p.m. coverage, which was, of course, two hours out of date.

No, really, when you stop covering the news, people can legitimately say you're not a news network. That has nothing to do with percieved bias or ideology (although we can speculate as to why Olbermann disappeared from the 10 p.m. coverage, where he was previously expected); it's because you're not actually bringing any new information to viewers.

UPDATE: Mediaite reports that Olbermann "was visiting his dad in the hospital, which accounted for his absence." That explains why he wasn't there, but not why the network reverted to rerun programming on an Election Night.

Sort of says it all.

Budget Cuts Coming Friday Morning?

Mitch Daniels has a media availability tomorrow (Friday) morning to talk about the updated tax revenue numbers for the state.

I'm reliably told that he will announce a ten percent across-the-board spending cut.

The reaction to that should be quite interesting to see.

The Reports of Our Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

The donkey wetting his pants was an interesting touch.

Rising from the Dead

Return

I took a fall vacation last week, and have spent the early part of this week busy catching up on things that didn't get done while I was on vacation, so there has been no blogging.

Regular blogging should now resume.

You Just Can't Make It Up: Todd Young of Carmel Campaigns for Congress in Broad Ripple

He's been there before.

According to sources present at the event, Todd Young spoke Wednesday evening at the Broad Ripple GOP Club. Lots of 9th District Republican primary voters there.

Let's rehash the geography here. Broad Ripple is on the north side of Indianapolis, in Marion County's Washington Township. It's a nice place. Wikipedia describes it thus:

Located about seven miles (11 km) north of Downtown Indianapolis, Broad Ripple contains many of Indianapolis' premier up scale restaurants, art galleries, and the Monon Trail. It also has a reputation for being socially and racially diverse, and is generally associated with progressive political attitudes.

Just the sort of place that a candidate running for Congress in southern Indiana should be spending time campaigning, right?

I mean, the 9th District snakes all the way up to the north side of Indianapolis, right?

It doesn't, you say?

Oh.

Well then what was Todd Young doing campaigning there then?

I mean, there wasn't anything he should have been doing down south, right?

You know, actually in the district itself?

Well, there was the annual Perry-Spencer Picnic at Mulzer's Camp Tuesday night.

But Todd wasn't at that; he sent former State Representative Billy Bright to speak on his behalf instead.

Perry and Spencer Counties apparently weren't important enough for Todd to make time to visit.

But driving all the way up to the north side of Indianapolis to Broad Ripple to speak to people that can't even vote for him?

That was important.

A guy's got to have priorities.

Some pictures (posted on Twitter by another event attendee):


Todd Young speaking at the Broad Ripple GOP Club. Note the sold-out crowd in the background. Note also the blue shirt. It must be the only shirt that Todd owns; it's in almost every campaign picture of him.

For example, note the same blue shirt over and over again in the photos on his campaign literature:


If I included a picture of the back (I'll have to scan one), you'd see another picture of him in the same shirt.

Anyway, sources present at the event noted that Todd spoke highly to the group about his time growing up not far from Broad Ripple (he grew up in Carmel).

I guess Todd was returning to his roots.

When the issue of why he was in Broad Ripple and not within the 9th District came up, Todd said that the 9th District was "sparsely populated" (it has the same number of people in it as any other Congressional district) and it was hard to raise money there (probably much more important in Todd's eyes than its population).

Todd said that since the 9th was so hard for him to raise money from (which is funny, since other candidates have successfully raised money down here; maybe it has something to do with the candidate), he was up in Broad Ripple to ask people to give money to his campaign.

That's what people in southern Indiana need. Folks in "progressive" Broad Ripple bankrolling candidates in the Republican primary. One source noted that there did not appear to be any takers on Young's request.

But it gets better. When asked about third party candidates (Libertarians are a big deal concern in the Washington Township GOP), Young assured the crowd that there would be no serious Libertarian challenge in the 9th District if he was the nominee.

According to Todd Young, he has spoken with Eric Schansberg, who has agreed (or at least told him, Todd says) that he has no intention of running for Congress again unless Mike Sodrel runs again.

It's good that Todd is reaching out like that, no? Eric Schansberg's apparent endorsement will be appearing on Todd's website very soon, no doubt.

Schansberg, of course, has a different perspective on running again than the one Todd apparently explained to the GOP Club in Broad Ripple. Schansberg, in a recent email, said that he would not be running another full-bore campaign for Congress as a Libertarian again next year. He did say, however, that he might put his name forward again (though not run full-bore) if Sodrel did for "old times' sake" (and presumably for Guiness Book of World Records honors). He also left open the option of running as a Republican.

This, obviously, doesn't quite match up with what Young told the crowd at the Broad Ripple GOP Club. Young appears to want to say or imply that Schansberg is threatening to again be a spoiler if Mike Sodrel runs again, and that Young is not faced with a similar issue.

Yet it is clear in talking to Schansberg that this is not the case at all. Young is taking Schansberg's statements and twisting them into something that is completely different from what the former Libertarian candidate is actually saying.

But regardless of that interesting element, Todd Young sure knows where he needs to go to beat Baron Hill.

It's Broad Ripple.

At this rate, Young is going to being spending less time in the 9th District than Baron Hill.

But at least Baron would have the excuse of being a member of Congress to justify not being in southern Indiana.

Todd's excuse must be a desire to return to his childhood stomping grounds around Carmel and Broad Ripple.

The Great Pumpkin Will Give Us All a Job

Obama to Buy Off Seniors after Slashing Medicare by Giving Them One-Time Check for $250

I'm not thinking that they'll buy it.

Good News: ObamaCare to Be Financed by Raiding Social Security

From Andrew Biggs, currently of the American Enterprise Institute and previously a deputy commissioner at the Social Security Administration:

The health legislation sponsored by Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.) received an apparent boost when the Congressional Budget Office stated it would reduce the budget deficit by $81 billion over the next ten years. Obama administration budget director Peter Orszag crowed that the CBO scoring “demonstrates that we can expand coverage and improve quality while being fiscally responsible.”

But the CBO analysis actually leads to a very different conclusion: that in a classic “raid” on Social Security, Baucus’s ostensible fiscal responsibility depends on raising Social Security taxes today to paper over new health spending, ignoring that those increased Social Security taxes imply higher benefit costs down the road. This marks yet another gimmick in a health-reform debate defined by contrivances.

Orszag recently outlined the Obama administration’s standards for health-care financing, saying that “health care reform must be deficit neutral over the next decade (as well as being deficit neutral in the tenth year alone).” Balancing revenues and costs over the next ten years purportedly addresses short-term deficit concerns, while balancing in the tenth year signals that a plan won’t generate longer-term shortfalls. President Obama says he will not sign legislation that fails these tests.

Unlike other congressional proposals, the Baucus legislation appears to meet Obama’s criteria. Baucus’s plan purportedly would improve the budget balance by $81 billion from 2010 through 2019, and in 2019 itself would cut the deficit by $12 billion. It’s no surprise the media treats Baucus’s plan as if it belongs to Obama himself.

But the devil is in the details of the CBO memo. CBO breaks down the Baucus plan’s budgetary effects into those occurring “on budget” (where the substantive policy changes are) and those “off budget” (meaning through the Social Security program). The Baucus plan’s on-budget provisions would reduce the ten-year budget deficit by a tiny $1 billion and in 2019 would increase borrowing by $6 billion. In the real world, where entitlement costs rise faster than projected and Congress fails to implement promised cuts to Medicare spending, the Baucus plan will doubtless generate significant deficits.

Meanwhile, the Baucus plan’s fiscal skullduggery takes place off-budget. Social Security revenues would increase by $80 billion over ten years, with an $18 billon increase in 2019 alone. Around 3 million individuals would leave employer-sponsored health coverage — which is exempt from taxes — to purchase insurance through a subsidized “exchange.” Leaving employer-sponsored coverage would raise workers’ taxable wages and thereby boost Social Security revenues. Millions more would trade a portion of their insurance benefits for higher wages to avoid a new tax on high-cost policies. By skimming the new Social Security taxes, the Baucus plan appears to significantly cut the deficit when, in truth, it balances only by the skin of its teeth.

This is perhaps the clearest example of “raiding the trust fund” on record. Democrats and Republicans have long believed that Social Security surpluses encourage the rest of the budget to run larger deficits, as borrowing from Social Security does not increase the measured budget deficit or the publicly-held national debt. But it’s difficult to tell whether any particular legislation comprises a “raid,” since the legislation might be passed even in the absence of Social Security surpluses.

In the case of the Baucus proposal, however, it is incontrovertible. The plan does not simply rely on existing Social Security surpluses but creates new ones to offset higher spending on health coverage. Without new Social Security revenues the plan would not balance and, if the president is to be believed, would face a presidential veto. It’s that simple: no new Social Security taxes, no new spending.

A health debate that began with earnest claims that we could “bend the cost curve” to cut costs while increasing quality has devolved to a farce in which vastly increased government spending is papered over with implausible spending cuts and dubious bookkeeping.

Max Baucus and Barack Obama are giving a new meaning to "fuzzy math."

Rudy on the Rise

Poll Tracker:

The outlook for Republicans in the New York governor's race hinges almost entirely on whether the party can lure former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani into the race, according to a poll conducted Oct. 14-18 by Siena College's Research Institute.

Giuliani's standing has risen among New York registered voters, the poll finds, with a 60 percent approval rating, near his 63 percent all-time high in the Siena poll. Giuliani now trails Attorney General Andrew Cuomo -- the Democrats' favored candidate -- by 7 percentage points, 43 to 50 percent, after several months of lagging in the double-digits.

And Giuliani would crush incumbent Democrat David A. Paterson by more than 20 percent, 56 to 33 percent. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.9 percent.

From America's Mayor to New York's Governor?

Why not?

Quote of the Day

"We need experts because ethics is a subspecialty, knowledge of which is not commonly found among ordinary politicians."
- Jennifer Rubin, noting the ethical questions about the White House astroturfing to fake support for ObamaCare

Photo of the Day: “O” Say Can You See...

Um, yeah...

The Obama Economy

A screen shot from Sunday's Meet the Press, courtesy of Ambinder.

Sort of says it all, no?

“That’s Our Opinion”

Obama's White House has decided that it doesn't like Fox News.

This leads to Jake Tapper getting hilarious statements out of the hapless Robert Gibbs at a White House press briefing after asking why Fox is getting picked on:

Gibbs: Jake, we render, we render an opinion based on some of their coverage and the fairness that, the fairness of that coverage.

Tapper: But that’s a pretty sweeping declaration that they are “not a news organization.” How are they any different from, say –

Gibbs: ABC —

Tapper: ABC. MSNBC. Univision. I mean how are they any different?

Gibbs: You and I should watch sometime around 9 o’clock tonight. Or 5 o’clock this afternoon.

Tapper: I’m not talking about their opinion programming or issues you have with certain reports. I’m talking about saying thousands of individuals who work for a media organization, do not work for a “news organization” — why is that appropriate for the White House to say?

Gibbs: That’s our opinion.

Of course, Chris Matthews and Keith Olberman are on MSDNC at 5 pm and 9 pm.

Guy Benson has an excellent look at the evolution of Obama's treatment of Fox News, Fox's reporting exposing various shady doings and questionable people within the Obama administration, and the over-arching themes that Obama wants control and Fox News is defying his efforts to keep the media under his thumb.

Tweet of the Day: Rehearsal for a Fundraiser

Original tweet here.

Who has a rehearsal for a fundraiser?

Is it like a wedding rehearsal?

Was there dinner afterward?

I mean, honestly. Does the candidate need practice with shaking hands and drinking cocktails? Is his donor stump really that bad? (I've heard that it's gotten somewhat better; one person who attended the Quayle event noted that there was "nowhere to go but up.")

Rumor Has It...

...that former 9th District Chairman Larry Shickles is considering a run for a legislative seat here in southern Indiana.

Shickles is an interesting case. Though he spent ten years as Harrison County GOP Chairman, and most of Harrison County's precincts are in Paul Robertson's District #70, Shickles himself actually lives in the one Harrison County precinct that is located in Dennie Oxley's District #73. He also has a large extended family in Washington and Crawford Counties, which are the significant share of Oxley's district.

But despite that anchoring, Shickles spent more time as County Chairman going after Paul Robertson than after Dennie Oxley. He is also probably better known within Harrison County (which is 70% of District #70) than within any part of the rest of Oxley's district.

Both races would be serious challenges. But with Robertson's district trending Republican and the Oxley name not what it used to be, both represent opportunities for an aggressive and capable candidate (and both races, it should be noted, already have Republican candidates either running or pondering runs, Brett Loyd in District #70 and Steve Davisson in District #73).

Matt Tully Doesn't Believe That Mitch Isn't Running for President Either

At last.

I am not alone.

The Candidates of Dan Quayle of Arizona

Mitch Daniels of Indianapolis for President.

Todd Young of Carmel for Congress.

Baron Continues to Focus on 2012

The prepping of the gubernatorial campaign continues:

Democrat Representative Baron Hill of Indiana’s 9th Congressional District will be the keynote speaker at Montgomery County’s annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner on Nov. 7.

The 56-year-old resident of Seymour served in the House from 1998 to 2004 and was re-elected in 2006.

“Since we don’t have a Democrat representative elected from this area, we try to get some Democrat representative to come here for the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner,” said Crawfordsville’s Kathi Schronce, Montgomery County Democratic Party chair. “Baron Hill has been in Congress a very long time and he has a good voting record, as far as I’m concerned. He’s progressive and that’s what I like about him.”

Montgomery County isn't exactly a Carmel mansion or the annual dinner for 3rd District Democrats, but it's still rather far from home for Baron.

I wonder if he will be driven to the event in his government-issue Chevy Malibu.

“Stimulus” Still Not Stimulating

If Jon Corzine Is So Great, Why Not Stay? Why Leave?

A great ad by Chris Christie in New Jersey:

Jon Stewart Destroys CNN

...for fact checking the SNL skit mocking Obama.

The Bloody Ninth

The Q3 fundraising period just concluded, the leaves are starting to change colors, and the lay of the land in southern Indiana is dramatically different than it was back in July when I looked (here, here, and here) at the state of the race (and the state of fundraising).

For the incumbent, there have been dramatic changes. For others, the more things change, the more they stay the same. And events may have unfolded to awaken a slumbering giant in southern Indiana politics, the only Republican to have ever held the seat in more than half a century.

With that in mind, there will be a series of posts (indexed via edits here once they are posted) about the state of things here in southern Indiana.

The Bloody Ninth, Part I: Baron “My Congressional Office” Hill
The Bloody Ninth, Part II: Mike “Truckman” Sodrel
The Bloody Ninth, Part III: Todd “That Guy Related to Dan Quayle” Young
The Bloody 9th, Part IV: Travis “Me Too” Hankins

The Bloody 9th: Travis “Me Too” Hankins

I suppose the “me too” thing isn’t entirely fair, but I’m at a loss at the moment for something else to put there. If I can think of something different, I’ll edit it into the title instead.

In this, the fourth and final (unless another candidate enters the race) installment of the “Bloody 9th” series, I’m going to look at Travis Hankins of Columbus.

Hankins hasn’t gotten as much attention on this blog (and others) for his campaign, but I’d be remiss if I said he hasn’t been busy. In fact, he’s probably been more active in many ways than the three candidates and one potential candidate in this series combined.

Baron Hill—when he’s not in Washington—has spent the past quarter mostly hiding from his constituents, attending fundraisers in Carmel, giving speeches in Indianapolis, holding closed-door events, and having the occasional town hall blow up.

Mike Sodrel—since he isn’t a declared candidate—hasn’t really been out in public until recently. I’m told that he appeared one night earlier this week at a nonpartisan citizen-organized town hall event in Madison and his unexpected entry caused quite a stir.

Todd Young—with the exception of the county fair in his adopted home of Monroe County—has spent most of his “campaign time” at various local GOP events, giving interviews at coffee shops in Broad Ripple in Indianapolis, and at various fundraisers.

All of this stands in rather stark contrast to Hankins, who has spent the past three months showing up at local and county events (parades, festivals, fairs) in the northern, central, and eastern areas of the district. He—or people from his campaign—have been at about every tea party rally in the district, and he has spoken at several of them. His campaign blog tracks the canvassing of precincts in several counties, a variety of house parties, and so forth. He has also been phone banking GOP primary voters like mad (usually calling individual voters himself, from what I have heard from those he has called).

With the exception of Baron (who appears at the occasional parade), Hankins is the only candidate to be doing this sort of “retail politics” activity so far in the race. At the same time, he has managed to raise about $55,000 (and he continues to spend most of what he raises on these grassroots efforts). Hankins’ strategy stands in stark contrast to strategies seen in the 9th District in recent years.

It’s a primary-based strategy. Hankins hasn’t interacted virtually at all with the district or county Republican organizations; given that the district chairman is a former colleague of Hankins’ opponent and some of the county chairmen have already cast made endorsements of that opponent, it’s not hard to see why. I could launch into a monologue here about the importance of party organizations staying out of primaries, but I digress.

There will be a primary. Hankins seems more focused on interacting with the voters in that primary than raising money for the following November (as Todd has). More than one person has told me that they see shades of Michael Bailey’s 2000 grassroots primary upset over Kevin Kellems in what Hankins is doing.

Hankins is pursuing a grassroots strategy. He is interacting with voters on a scale and a level that none of the other candidates are doing, even the incumbent. The tea parties he frequents are filled with disaffected conservatives, Republicans and Democrats. Those are the same voters that gave George W. Bush the 9th District by about a two-to-one margin over John Kerry. Those are the same voters that put Mike Sodrel into office in 2004. And those are the same voters that left the GOP in droves in 2006 and 2008, and led to the party’s woeful fortunes in those elections.

Whatever else he is doing, Travis Hankins is the only candidate aggressively reaching out to those conservative (and likely Republican) voters. This isn’t Richard Behney; Hankins didn’t begin the tea parties. He just became involved and active with them along the way. If Hankins becomes the standard-bearer of these disaffected conservatives, he will have a lot of motivated grassroots supporters that would be integral to any campaign come May or even November.

This grassroots strategy reminds many 9th District Republicans of Michael Bailey (and some view that as a negative thing, others a positive). It reminds me of another Republican candidate in an entirely different district, and that’s John Hostettler in the 8th. That’s a district that was “bloody” long before the 9th, and one whose quirky character of conservative Democrats and even-more-conservative Republicans was ripe for a grassroots conservative candidate like John Hostettler. Travis Hankins seems to be betting that the 9th District is similarly ready for such a campaign.

Hankins hasn’t raised the big bucks that have been spent in the 9th District in recent campaigns, even the modest numbers seen by Todd Young this quarter (he raised about half of what Todd has raised, but without anywhere near the endorsements or effort being put into fundraising). But at the same time, his campaign strategy (primary-first, conservative grassroots) doesn’t need require lots of fundraising. The big money in Hankins’ strategy would have to come after the primary. And at that point it probably wouldn’t come in the form of high-dollar Indianapolis fundraisers or visits to country clubs by former vice presidents. At the same time, the nature of the campaign harkens more to Hostettler’s low-fundraising efforts as opposed to the big-money media wars of Hill and Sodrel in recent years.

That’s the strategy Hankins seems to be following, at least. Will it work? I don’t know. What I can say is that the examples of Michael Bailey in the 9th and John Hostettler in the 8th tell is that it can work, and I suppose that’s what matters from Hankins’ perspective.

And any discussion of Travis Hankins wouldn’t be complete without a discussion of the elephant in the room. As one 9th District activist told me, “He looks like he’s twelve years old.” Similarly, at the Harrison County Lincoln Day Dinner (where both Todd Young and Travis Hankins spoke), there was much talk about afterward about Hankins. The consensus seemed to be that the message was good, but the messenger was too young.

That’s a significant perception hurdle, but I’m not certain that it cannot be surmounted. The reason that I think that is there are currently three very young Republicans sitting in Congress who obtained their positions at ages similar to Hankins (who is 28). Those Republicans are Adam Putnam of Florida, Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, and Aaron Schock of Illinois.

Just for the sake of comparison, take a look at Hankins’ photo (from above), and then look at the photos of Putnam, McHenry, and Schock.


Travis Hankins (born 1981) is currently 27.


Adam Putnam (born 1974) was 25 when he ran for Congress and turned 26 (the Constitutionally-required age) before taking office. He is now the House Republican Conference Chairman and the #5 Republican in the House. He served five terms and is currently running to be Florida’s agriculture commissioner.


Patrick McHenry (born 1975) was one year young than Adam Putnam, but was slightly older (at 33) when he was first elected to Congress. The early onset of salt-and-pepper gray hair must run in his family. McHenry is currently a deputy whip in the House GOP caucus, and he sits on budget, finance, and oversight committees.


Aaron Schock (born 1981) is currently the youngest person in the Congress and was 27 when he was elected. He is currently the only member of Congress born in the 1980s.

So, yes, I’d say that age is a hurdle. I wouldn’t say, however, that it’s unprecedented for someone as young as Travis Hankins to be elected to the United States Congress. He would be preceded in that by a number of young (small Y) Republicans.

Mike Sodrel in Madison

A group of citizens held a town hall in Madison earlier this week. They invited Baron, but he didn't show.

I'm told that one person who did show (unexpected and uninvited), however, was former Congressman Mike Sodrel. He was accompanied by State Senator (and former 9th District candidate) Jean Leising.

The plot thickens.

Obligatory Dilbert Mocks Evan Bayh Post

It's been posted everywhere else already, but just in case you missed it.

Quote of the Day: Baron Hill on Gitmo Detainees Coming to America

From the Washington Examiner:

"I haven't had one person ask me about Guantanamo," said Rep. Baron Hill, D-Ind. He added that he does "not in the least" fear it as an issue in next year's elections.

The vote roll call is here.

Brad Ellsworth and Baron Hill voted to allow Gitmo detainees to come to the United States. Joe Donnelly, interestingly, voted against it.