The Indianapolis Star and The Times of Northwest Indiana have endorsed Governor Mitch Daniels for reelection. From the tone of the editorials, it wasn’t even close.
In 2004, Mitch Daniels crisscrossed Indiana promising, if elected governor, to press for rapid and aggressive change in how state government operates.
Four years later, Daniels [...]
This morning’s Indianapolis Star focuses on an Indiana economy that is in transition. While the articles title, “Indiana’s Economy Still Losing Ground” suggests a state in rapid decline, the numbers in the article tell a different story.
Indiana, under Governor Daniels, has sought to diversify its economy to include high-tech jobs. [...]
Sarah Palin is coming to town and if you weren’t one of the lucky 25,000 people to get a ticket, then you can watch her speech live on WISH-TV.com. Her addition to the republican presidential ticket has energized the base here in Indiana and her visit will help draft more volunteers [...]
In a frantic attempt to maintain some shred of relevancy in the 18 days before Election Day, Jill Long Thompson is telling the media she isn’t as broke as everyone thinks.
Jill Long Thompson’s campaign picked up another $450,000 since the Oct. 1 filing deadline. It includes $25,000 from the National [...]
For over a month now, Jill Long Thompson has promised the media that her ads will be up soon. To blame is a complete lack of support from the democratic party, the public, and her fellow candidates, resulting in money problems that took her off of TV for good back [...]
While most candidates are talking economics and domestic issues, Nels Ackerson, democrat candidate for Congress in the 4th district, just released a new video called “Hoosier Values”. It’s a heartwarming story that guides viewers through his family’s heritage in Indiana and affirms his own as well.
There’s a reason Ackerson needs [...]
Brian Howey writes in the Weekly Howey Political Report this week about a recent press conference with JLT, in which she apparently couldn’t answer simple policy questions and demonstrated that she has no clue how state government works. (Seriously, Brian, come write for FH).
Thompson found herself sideways with the Constitution, [...]
Brian Howey’s latest syndicated column is a brutally honest assessment of the JLT campaign. It’s so brutally honest, that we’re going to refrain from our own commentary and just posting the whole thing. Anytime you want to come join the FH crew, Brian, we’d love to post more of [...]
Jill Long Thompson might not have enough money left to run her last negative campaign ad. She must be crushed, we hear she is putting a lot of thought and spite into it. It would be a shame if it didn’t at least make it to YouTube.
Campaign finance reports are [...]
Governor Daniels would be the first person to tell you that the best ideas in his administration are not his own, rather they are the thoughts of regular Hoosiers he meets while he’s on the road. His new ad shares just a few of them.
[...]Jill Long Thompson has changed her stance on government reform from ‘I’ll do nothing’ to ‘I’ll do something’. Since the Kernan Shepard report was released, and a clear path to government reform and consolidation was established, JLT has said time and again, “I know that when it comes to governing [...]
John McCain found a friend last night in good ‘ol Joe the Plumber, a regular guy who doesn’t want his taxes to go up. Joe Wurzelbacher met Barack Obama during a campaign stop in Toledo, Ohio and challenged Obama on his plan to hike taxes on small businesses and couples [...]
On Sunday, Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette reporter Nikki Kelly wrote that rather than campaigning in Indiana for Superintendent of Public Instruction, Democrat Dick Wood has been an Africa for a few weeks. Wood’s campaign explained the trip as purely education based:
The rumors had him wearing a khaki outfit, riding [...]
Officials in Gary have announced $8 million will be cut from the city’s budget, about $28 million less than what they need to cut. While some might think that government excess, corruption, the state’s highest property taxes, and the resulting lack of economic development might be to blame, Gary is pointing [...]
Tully’s take on last night’s debate:
With a petty performance, Democrat Jill Long Thompson spoiled what could have been an insightful gubernatorial debate Tuesday evening.
The two other candidates in the debate, Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels and Libertarian Andrew Horning, actually provided plenty of insight and even a touch of introspection as [...]
The final gubernatorial debate will be held tonight at 7pm in Bloomington. I wonder if JLT will mention she has a Ph.D.?
A scathing editorial in the Richmond Paladium-Item today brings to light some news that may be disturbing to those of you who already think township assessors waste your tax dollars by their mere existence, and probably even for some of you who love antiquated forms of government. Turns out [...]
Finally, one of the Dennis Oxley’s gets into the newspaper. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) for Democrats, it’s not Junior, who is running for Lt. Governor, but Senior, who is running for Junior’s State Rep seat. And finally, he answers the questions about one of the most confusing switcheroo’s in [...]
A CNN story reports that after ACORN turned in over 5,000 new voter registration forms, election officials found that the first 2,100 were fraudulent. That’s quite a streak.
H/T Hoosier Access
[...]State and local governments across the nation are tightening their belts as citizens spend less, tax revenues fall further, and the costs of government rise. Spending clipped along at a healthy pace in most places when the good times rolled. Now that revenues are down, government at all levels are left with [...]
Americans are embarking on a new era of frugality in their lives, suggests Business Week. Now apply it to government and we’re on to something!
The New Age of Frugality
On a shady lane in New Hope, Pa., a quiet revolution in American culture may be taking shape. Here, a family of four [...]
Allegations of voter fraud in Lake County were turned up a notch and given some national exposure as Senator Lindsey Graham called out the liberal action group, ACORN, for their latest in a long history of election law violations.
Earlier this week, Republicans in Lake County caught ACORN registering the [...]
Under the leadership of Governor Mitch Daniels, Indiana has become an award winning state. Forbes ranked Indiana the #1 state in the midwest to do business. The BMV won an award for having the best customer service in the nation. Indiana was ranked #1 in the nation for international investment. [...]
We can’t decide if Pat Guinane is being tongue-in-check here or not. I mean, he mentions that she has a masters and a PhD, and that she grew up on a frickin’ farm. Those are things that nobody but JLT brings up with seriousness anymore, right? He [...]
We quoted Brian Howey yesterday, who noted that Jill Long Thompson scrapped a planned speech to the Indianapolis Rotary to instead unveil a new major policy package. After the speech, she “haltingly answered media questions on the plan, saying at one point that she had had only 20 minutes [...]
It’s a Lake County voter fraud bonanza this year! First, democrats have moved forward with a plan to break Indiana election law and open unauthorized satellite voting centers in democrat strongholds. Now, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) is under investigation for its voter registration practices.
We [...]
Jill Long Thompson released her campaign platform today. It takes a while to digest this much substance-less contradiction so we’ll have to break it up into tiny parts. Her transportation plan is a doosey. Here’s a clip:
In the booklet, Thompson’s infrastructure plan calls for “encouraging local input for a statewide plan, [...]
This one line from JLT may sum up the way her entire campaign has been run:
Democrat Jill Long Thompson rolled out her One Indiana Plan before the Indianapolis Rotary Club today at the Scottish Rite Cathedral. Thompson’s plan calls for an overhaul of the state tax structure, institution of “economic [...]
From a special bulletin from Brian Howey today:
Sources tell HPI that a WISH-TV poll by Research2000 to be released at 6 tonight will show Thompson trailing Gov. Daniels 49-45 percent. Another Research2000 poll taken during part of the same time span for the South Bend Tribune/WSBT-TV had Daniels leading [...]
Home heating energy costs are expected to break records across the nation this year. In preparation, the State of Indiana has fully funded its share of the Energy Assistance Program, designed to help low income folks pay their heating bills.
INDIANAPOLIS (October 6, 2008) – Indiana has a record amount of [...]
Republican candidate for Attorney General Greg Zoeller released this campaign commercial last night. It’s a pretty slick ad that highlights Zoeller’s strong background.
[...]Rumor has it that Jill Long Thompson is going to break her weeks long silence tomorrow morning and announce a position on an actual issue. How exciting. Apparently she’s in favor of mass transit. Yay!! Mass transit!! She will no doubt attack the governor for not providing leadership in this [...]
Lake County democrats have stopped trying to cover up voter fraud, they’re just doing it right out in the open for everyone to see. Democrats in Lake County are moving forward with a plan to open satellite voting centers despite the fact that Indiana law requires a unanimous vote [...]
Last week Congress passed an historic bailout of Wall Street that will allow the Treasury to purchase distressed mortgages and return liquidity to credit markets that have been paralyzed with bad debt. There are also tax breaks for rum imported from Puerto Rico and something about wooden bow and arrow [...]
WSBT and the South Bend Tribune released a poll yesterday that shows Mitch ahead of JLT by 1%. Since numerous other polls show Mitch with a double-digit lead (including the SurveyUSA poll that was released the other day showing him with a 16% lead), we’re inclined to believe this [...]
The Gov’s campaign started running this ad today, a sequel to the widely popular ad they ran over the summer. We’re not sure why they chose to go this route, because we thought that if an ad was popular you were supposed to pull it off the air and [...]
After nearly a year of ignoring gubernatorial races, Chris Cillizia of the Washington post talks about some of the races for top state executive around the country. Here’s what he had to say about Indiana:
Indiana (R): Democrats had high hopes for defeating Gov. Mitch Daniels at the start of [...]
If you live in Harrison County, we’ve got great news for you (though we know this is happening all over the state): Turns out that the projected 27% cut in property taxes you were told to expect was wrong. It’s actually going to average 42% in your county. You can [...]
Apparently the Indianapolis Business Journal hasn’t heard that–despite having no actual experience in business and advocating for regressive ideas that would hurt businesses–Jill Long Thompson has a Ph.D. in economics. We also heard she stayed at a Holiday Inn last night, so maybe they are off-base in their criticism.
Nah, [...]
When government leaders pass away, it’s easy to praise their devotion to the public, their work and the ideals they fought for. But it’s perhaps never been truer than about someone like Marv Riegsecker. Despite serving in the State Senate for 20 years, Sen. Riegsecker never rose to the ranks [...]
We’re pretty busy today and won’t have much to post. We wanted to make sure everyone saw this, however. Yet another independent poll verifies what the other independent polls shows (with one notable outlier which we’ve already beaten to death): Mitch Daniels continues to hold a huge double-digit lead.
In [...]
The Indianapolis Star penned a lengthy article today that describes a problem in Indiana with regard to the state’s ability to revoke a teacher’s license. It seems that once you have that thing, you can pretty much do whatever you want and not lose it.
The 7-year-old tried to keep her [...]
The campaign for governor has largely focused on relative results. While the states around us flounder and the national economy continues to struggle, Indiana has managed to maintain a balanced budget, grow investment, and reform state government from dysfunctional, wasteful, and corrupt to award winning. Meanwhile, in Illinois:
Experience has become a central issue in campaigns across the nation this year. Here in Indiana, we have two “experienced” candidates running for attorney general. But having experience doesn’t make you qualified, especially if you have democrat candidate Linda Pence’s kind of experience.
The Indiana Republican Party is questioning whether Linda [...]
We get the fact that there is no shortage of political theater to report on this year. There are few starving political reporters. But it seems to us that some fairly relevant story lines are being completely overlooked this year. Here’s our top five issues the mainstream media are ignoring:
1. [...]
If you thought EMILY’s List was bankrolling the campaign of Jill Long Thompson just because she fully supports abortions-on-demand, you’d be wrong. After all, she’s a long shot candidate who can’t make a meaningful impact on the issue anyway since she would have a General Assembly that would at least [...]
The Gary Post-Trib has a follow up story on the issue cited in yesterday’s post about Lake County democrats working wtih Obama staffers to push satellite vote centers in democrat strongholds. The Obama campaign has strongly denied that they ever sent Orrin Evansm, an Obama employee in Chicago, to meet [...]
It will be months if not years before residents of Munster and other towns in Northwest Indiana can rebuild homes that were ravaged by flooding less than two weeks ago. However the discussion has turned sharply from providing relief to finding exactly who is to blame for not building flood [...]
This is a fun story that’s only getting better the more we learn about it. There’s so much to it, that we don’t know the best place to start and which issues to hit, so we’ll do it all from the beginning.
According to a story in the Gary Post-Tribune [...]
Jim Shella reports on his blog that there are rumors that JLT will soon start back on TV with ads that feature a matador and a Crocodile Dundee character. Ummm…what? We get the references to Spain and Austrailia and the toll road consortium, but political ads don’t usually feature [...]
In all the other coverage of the debate, we have yet to see anyone mention that JLT has already dropped her “Reality Check” talking points. We find that strange because a) she spent so much time playing that theme up only last week; b) her campaign manager used the phrase [...]
Looks like Abdul largely agrees with Tully that not much was new last night, and his grades over the performances last week haven’t changed much at all:
I had some problems with my DVR last night so trying to watch the second Gubernatorial debate was a little difficult, but it [...]
Like last week, Matt Tully showed up at the gubernatorial debate last night and wrote his Wednesday column about it. From the look of it, he’s probably wishing he had saved the gas money and wrote about last week’s debate again, since JLT did nothing different to get out [...]
The candidates for governor squared off again last night. After a week of enduring press that criticized her for offering no ideas and mischaracterizing Governor Mitch Daniels’ record, you would have thought that Jill Long Thompson would have come armed with more than petty attack lines and vague commitments about [...]
Don’t forget to check out the second of three gubernatorial debates tonight. You can watch it on the web by clicking here, or it will be broadcast in central Indiana on PBS (Channel 30 for most).
[...]Barack Obama does a great job of dressing up old liberal ideas in a new way that make people take a second look at policies they usually reject outright. While some democrats are accusing people of racism if they dare question Obama’s ideas, reasonable people are starting to see through the fancy TV [...]
If you miss any of the gubernatorial debates this year, there will be no more sleepless nights wondering what was said or pretending you know what people are talking about at cocktail parties. You can check out all three of the gubernatorial debates on the state’s website, which will make them available [...]
Occassionally, when political campaigns lack ideas or any creative spirit, they will send some intern or young staffer on the road to follow their opponent around with a camera. In the event that he/she says something dumb, they can take the video and cut it into a commercial to use against [...]
After watching Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson make the rounds on the morning talk shows yesterday, it has never been more clear that this country needs to elect a grown-up president like John McCain in 2008 to consider serious questions regarding the economic future of the nation. After all, Barack Obama [...]
An independent poll released by Rasmussen today continued to show a double digit lead for the Gov similar to other polls that have come out in the last few months. And yet again, this poll also shows the Gov well over 50%, with a 56-40 lead.
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels [...]
A poll conducted by Bellwether polling shows a 21 point advantage for Governor Mitch Daniels over Jill Long Thompson. Bellwether accurately predicted the exact outcome of the 2004 race for governor between Daniels and Governor Joe Kernan. This poll tracks consistently with seven other polls that have been taken [...]
It was a busy day at the fax machine for Jill Long Thompson as she fired off another political attack aimed at Mitch Daniels. We’re starting to think we’re not going to see any new ideas from this campaign.
INDIANAPOLIS - Today, the former chair of the State Ethics Commission became [...]
A poll conducted on behalf of The Indianapolis Star and WTHR by Selzer & Co. that was released today shows Gov. Daniels with a lead of 4 points over Jill Long Thompson, 46-42. We don’t buy that the race is that close.
The Star’s polls constantly come under fire for their [...]
As the Democrats continue to tell us how much Obama’s presidential campaign is growing in Indiana, the numbers continue to show the opposite. A new poll just released by CNN shows McCain up 51-45. Not only is Obama now down 6 and outside the margin of error, but [...]
It looks like Obama’s disciples have traded in the voter registration clipboards for cans of gold spray paint and decorated the Delaware County Republican Headquarters.
The Democratic Governor’s Association just sent out a fundraising e-mail, and it doesn’t look good for Jill Long Thompson. Only three states were listed as being important this year to them, and Indiana didn’t make the cut. In a year in which Democrats claim Obama will pull off the impossible [...]
This is getting repetitive, to be sure, but another member of the media weighs in on the debate by noting that (say it with us) JLT offers no new material, no new approach, and provided nothing to make the media change their perception that this race is all but over. [...]
Matt Tully weighed in on what he thought of the debate today, and once again we see that JLT provided no new material, no new approach, and nothing to make the media change their mind about her chances to win. Says Tully:
But as with so much of her campaign, [...]
Jim Shella posted his take on the debate on his blog today, and it sums up everything nicely with some subtle humor. It also reinforces the point we made in a comment last night that the media has written Jill off and she offered no new material or approach [...]
If Jill Long Thompson intended to use Tuesday night’s debate to distinguish herself from her opponents, she succeeded. She went negative early, which is the old JLT trademark, and left listeners with no idea about what it is she would actually do in the event that lightning strikes and she is [...]
Click here to watch the gubernatorial debate live at 8:00pm (that’s 7:00pm for you folks in The Region).
[...]Over the past few days Jill Long Thompson has pulled her TV commercials, fired staff, and closed offices. Even though she claims she is not having money problems, shear stupidity is the only other explanation that could be driving these actions with 50 days left before Election Day.
She isn’t having any luck raising [...]
The Lansing State Journal up in Michigan ran a story today about Democrat Party front group ACORN (*gasp*) turning in fraudulent voter registration applications. You’re shocked, right? Yeah, we’re not, either. Here’s what they have to say:
Election officials say fraudulent and duplicate voter registration applications appear to be a [...]
Lesley Stedman penned a great column in the Louisville Courier-Journal over the weekend in which she suggested that JLT’s campaign is sputtering and on it’s last legs. Our favorite part of the article was watching the Democrats claim she’s still running strong. Our only regret is that this was [...]
An editorial in the Evansville Courier Press today hits the nail on the head in again pointing out the foresight of the Governor with Major Moves:
And now the White House has acquiesced in a congressionally authored infusion of $8 billion from the Treasury to the fast-dwindling highway trust fund.
The [...]
Late last week the Cook Political Report downgraded Indiana’s race for governor from tossup to leans Republican. We think that’s still pretty generous considering Jill Long Thompson is down big in every poll, except her own internal push poll, and had to take commercials off the air, fire staff, and [...]
Part of the goal of our new format and design was to not only change the look of this blog, but to change its purpose. In the coming months and years we hope to grow this into more than a format for discussion of the political topics of the day, and into [...]
Folks seem to be taking some perverse pleasure in the fact that Jill Long Thompson’s campaign now lacks as much money as it always has in support. Now, we’re not the kind of people who like to kick her while she’s down… wait… actually, that sounds just like the kind of [...]
The more I think about it, the more I despise Jill Long Thompson’s education plan, specifically this idea that students should be cut even more slack and given the option of a fifth year of high school. The last thing this state needs is more opportunities for students to fail, [...]
Indiana Right to Life has told Indiana House Democrats that it’s time to start practicing what they preach, or at least what those democrats holding republican seats preach. The organization sent a letter out to all legislative candidates informing them that no democrats will be endorsed for legislative office.
The chairman of the [...]
Jill Long Thompson filed a complaint with the state Office of the Inspector General seeking a formal investigation into anything that could possibly result in some help with her broke and idea-free campaign.
On Monday, Long Thompson’s campaign said it would give the governor’s office 48 hours to release the records before taking formal action seeking [...]
Today’s a busy day for those of us at FH, so we figured rather than making our own observations on this picture, we’d like you give us your best snark. Have at it!
[...]Obama just responded to the lipstick controversy… you know, the one where called Sarah Palin a pig… by pretending he was outraged at what he called a “made-up controversy”. Pun possibly intended, I don’t know, it was hard to tell.
Is anyone else tired of the faux-outrage of politics, particularly of [...]
Some Indiana legislators spent the 2008 legislative session aggressively pursuing legislation that would have allowed the state to punish employers who hire illegal immigrants. Like most legislative issues, this one sounded easy enough until it started to move through the process. In the end, the business community fought hard to [...]
Barack Obama finds himself at the center of a controversy he created. This is fairly uncommon for Obama, who is carefully scripted and tends to stay on message. That would make me think Obama meant what he said and the explanation we’re about to hear from him on the matter is [...]
While JLT campaign staffers pack up their offices, delete this awful experience from their resumes, and begin to pretend that none of this ever happened, the campaign is turning to blatant mimicry to try and stay afloat. On her latest blog entry, JLT shares with us her “Notes from the Road”.
Notes from the [...]
Today is not a good day to be Jill Long Thompson. In fact, if I were JLT, today would be the one day of my life that I would want to be someone else. Check that. November 4 of this year would be the one day of my life that [...]
Today is the first meeting of the Interim Study Committee on Immigration Issues. The legislature, after the immigration bill died, directed this commission to study various issues surrounding the impact of illegal immigration in the state of Indiana. You can watch the webcast here. The current speaker just said, “Whoever [...]
You know things aren’t going well when a member of the media more or less calls you a liar. From Jim Shella’s Blog:
As Jill Long Thompson and her staff do all they can to quash rumors of money trouble, consider this: Her two day tour of the state to [...]
Jill Long Thompson issued a 48 hour ultimatum for Governor Mitch Daniels to do her political digging for her or she would have no choice but to do it herself. We can’t blame her for trying to get the Governor’s office to do her work for her, after all, she [...]
Few candidates on the statewide ballot have to resent JLT’s floundering campaign more than Dick Wood. Running for State Superintendent places you at the bottom of the down ballot races, and ties your fortunes largely to those at the top. If her initial snub of him during her education [...]
The Jill Long Thompson campaign announced on Friday that it was pulling campaign commercials. Today, they confirmed that JLT is closing field offices around the state, especially in Southern Indiana where she is particularly unpopular. Norm Cox has the details:
While some politicos said the move meant the campaign was running [...]
US automakers are heading to Washington with their hands out to get in on the bailout action following the $240 billion bailout of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Wall Street Journal called them out on this yesterday. Detroit’s big three are seeking $60 billion in cash to invest [...]
