ALL CONGRESSIONAL INDIANA PRIMARY RESULTS-- PROGRESSIVE HERO IN THE MAKING: BARRY WELSH, THE VALUES CANDIDATE

There were no real surprises in the Indiana congressional primary races, but I thought I'd give an update to the pre-primary story from April 6th. My biggest disappointment, of course-- though not exactly unexpected-- is that instead of a clear choice between a proud progressive (Gretchen Clearwater) and an unabashed neo-fascist, 9th CD incumbent Mike Sodrel will have to face ex-Congressman Baron Hill, a moderate former congressman. Hill isn't my kind of Democrat but he'd definitely be a HUGE improvement over Sodrel. Interestingly, Hill seems to have drawn significantly more voters than Sodrel today, something that bodes well for November. Similarly in the 8th CD, Democrat Brad Ellsworth is drawing a similarly lopsided turnout compared to hysterical right-wing maniac John Hostettler.

Best news of the night is that progressive pastor Barry Welsh is winning his primary contest handily and will face corrupt rubber-stamp Republican Mike Pence in the 6th CD come November. Other Democratic primary winners include Katherine Carr in the 5th, Dave Sanders in the 4th, Thomas Hayhurst in the 3rd and Joe Donnelly in the 2nd. (Donnelly is also getting significantly more votes than his Republican November opponent, rightist clown Chris Chocola.)

There were no interesting primaries on the right-wing side.


MORNING AFTER UPDATE: 3 INDIANA DISTRICTS LOOK READY TO MOVE OUT OF DARKNESS

In the three Indiana congressional districts most likely to switch from red to blue in November, Democratic primary winners drew much greater numbers of voters than Republican winners. In the southern part of the state (IN-09) moderate former Congressman Baron Hill won his DCCC-backed primary against progressive grassroots Dem Gretchen Clearwater with 20,390. The far right rubber-stamp incumbent, Mike Sodrel drew less than 17,000 votes in his primary battle against Sam Schultz.

Meanwhile in the western part of Indiana (IN-08), neither Democrat nor Republican had a primary challenger and Sherrif Brad Ellsworth, the popular and admired Democrat, swamped hysterical rightist lunatic John Hostettler 43,213 vs 27,366 in what many see as just a taste of what's in store for the pathetically rubber-stamping, somewhat whacky Hostettler in November. And in the north central portion of the state that goes from South Bend down to Kokomo (IN-02), the DCCC-backed Joe Donnelly outpolled progressive Steve Francis with 29,541 votes while Tom DeLay-clone Chris Chocola barely managed to gather 22,000 votes against a Republican challenger.

Primary victor and progressive hero Barry Welsh faces a much tougher challenge against entrenched and extremist Bush-ally Mike Pence in IN-06, the east-central part of the state (around Muncie and Richmond).