Only Trump Could Win The Indiana Senate Race For Reactionary Blue Dog Baron Hill

Another garbage candidate Chuck Schumer likes

The DSCC is hoping against hope to slip another truly horrible right-wing Democrat into the Senate from Indiana this year. It was an unexpected miracle when reactionary Blue Dog, Joe Donnelly, knowing he had zero chance of being reelected to his House seat, threw a Hail Mary pass and ran for Richard Lugar's Senate seat. Might as well go out in a blaze of glory, right? But then something incredible happened. A deranged teabagger, Richard Mourdock defeated the popular Lugar in the GOP primary and immediately made it clear during a debate that he would be a fierce warrior in the Republican War Against Women, providing the Democrats with all the campaign fodder they'd need by declaring that pregnancy from rape is "something that God intended." There was a lot of ticket-splitting in Indiana in November. Romney beat Obama 1,412,620 (54%) to 1,140,425 (44%) while Donnelly beat Mourdock 1,268,407 (50%) to 1,126,832 (44%). In other words, almost 286,000 Romney voters decided they just could not vote for Mourdock. No one expected it, but the DSCC was jumping for joy.

What could go wrong for the Republicans this year? Yes, Trump. After a bruising primary against teabagger Marlin Stutzman, the Wall Street/Chamber of Commerce conservative, Todd Young, won the primary. And in November, in a replay of 2010 when Young defeated then incumbent congressman Hill, the two will face off again. Without Trump in the race, it wouldn't even be worth mentioning. But... Baron Hill's congressional record is about as far to the right as someone's can be without officially joining the GOP. I remember in 2009, for example, when Hill, then chairman of the Blue Dogs, was one of only 3 far right Democrats to work with the Republicans to sabotage health insurance for needy children. Blue America ran 40,000 robo-calls on Hill's vote and the ad up top as a full page in the Bloomington Herald Times, causing Hill to immediately switch positions and vote for the final version of the bill, avoiding a full page we had already scheduled in the Sunday paper. He lost his reelection bid to Young anyway.

Hill first ran for the Senate-- to fill the 2 years left on Dan Quayle's term when he was elected Vice President in 1990-- and lost to Dan Coats, whose retirement this year has left the seat open. He then served 5 non-consecutive terms in Congress, winning and losing regularly. He supported much of Bush's unpopular agenda, including No Child Left Behind and for the Iraq War and worked hard to sabotage efforts to deal with the early stages of Global Warming and climate change. Since his 2010 defeat he's been working as a slimy lobbyist.

As of the April 13 FEC reporting deadline, Hill had raised $978,761 compared to Young's $3,716,924. Even though Young spent over $3,000,000 in the primary-- boosting his statewide name recognition gigantically-- he still has over a million dollars on hand to Hill's $387,419. A poll by WTHR-13 a couple of weeks, before Young won his primary, ago showed Young leading Hill 48-30%. The DSCC website has nothing to say about Hill, other than a 2-sentence description: "A devoted public servant and a proud Hoosier, Baron Hill is a committed fighter for Indiana’s middle class families. We are proud to endorse him in Indiana’s Senate race." The DSCC doesn't expect to spend any money in the race unless it looks like Trump really can tank the whole GOP. The fake DSCC/DCCC front group, End Citizens United, did give Hill $9,500 though and his old pal John Mellancamp, who comes from the same small town he comes from, Seymour, maxed out to him. His old Blue Dog pal Kirsten Gillibrand gave him $5,000 through her shady Empire PAC and multimillionaire, right-wing Democrat Mark Warner-- on a mission to cut Social Security and recognizing anally when he sees one-- had his Forward Together PAC give Hill $5,000 too. Heidi Heitkamp, another very far right Democrat gave him $10,000 through her Dakota Prairie PAC as did the ModSquad, a lobbyist-funded operation that supports Senate candidates running as Democrats but expected to vote with Republicans. (They are, for example, also funding anti-working family conservatives Patrick Murphy of Florida and Eldridge Conner of Arkansas this cycle.)

Probably not Indiana, but how many Senate seats will Trump cost the Republicans?

America's Gayest Cities-- Where Are They And Who Are They Electing To Congress?

Anti-gay Blue Dogs Hill & Shuler represent 2 of America's gayest cities

Yesterday, while I was researching my post about the problem gays have with the Democratic Party, I came across a whimsical article in The Advocate, Gayest Cities in America. And they are not, according "intrepid amateur sociologist Mike Albo," San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Miami or Chicago. Go figure. Well actually, by Albo's criteria the gayest cities in the country are-- from gay to very gay to super gay to FLAMING-- Albuquerque, San Diego, Springfield (MA), Asheville (NC), Gainesville (FL), Seattle, Austin, Portland (ME), Fort Lauderdale, New Orleans, Madison, Bloomington (IN), Iowa City, Burlington (VT) and Atlanta. "Georgia," he posits, "isn’t the most gay-friendly state, but Atlanta is undoubtedly our gayest city-- with 29 gay bars here, there’s a reason it’s dubbed Hotlanta. Atlanta’s several queer events include one of the nation’s largest Prides in October (returning to Piedmont Park this year), and MondoHomo, a May event celebrating art, drag, burlesque, film, and BBQ. The gay epicenter is Midtown, anchored by Outwrite Books, a giant gay bookstore bucking the national trend-- by staying in business! Atlanta guys are hunky, the ladies are gracious, the gay sports leagues are seriously well organized, and its housewives (and their gay BFFs, complete with handbags and heels) are now camp icons. And who doesn’t love the sweet lilt of a Georgia accent on a knockout guy or gal?"

Uhhh... ok. There are also 3 gay elected officials in town. In fact, that's one of the criterion for deciding how gay a city is. Do they elect gay officials? Iowa City also has 3, as do Austin, and Seattle. Springfield has one. Madison has 4 (and I don't know if that includes the outstanding member of Congress who represents that part of Wisconsin, Tammy Baldwin). Burlington has none (neither do Bloomington, New Orleans, Ft. Lauderdale, Portland, Gainesville, Asheville, Albuquerque, nor San Diego).

Now, Atlanta wasn't disqualified-- and it certainly isn't Atlanta's fault that the state of Georgia has chosen to elect two of the most viciously homophobic senators in the United States, Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss (each of whom rates a flat out zero on the ProgressivePunch Senate gay rights scorecard. At least the members of Congress who represent the Greater Atlanta Metropolitan Area itself are mostly gay-friendly. Hank Johnson (D) has a clean 100% score on gay issues as does civil rights champion John Lewis (D); David Scott (Blue Dog) a shady 75.00; Tom Price (R) a startlingly anti-gay 20.00 and Phil Gingrey (R) a flat out zero.

The last big gay rights issue Congress voted on was the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes bill, on April 29 of last year. The enabling legislation to move the bill passed 234-190, every single Republican voting against it-- including both the closet queen contingent (David Dreier, Patrick McHenry, Adrian Smith, Trent Franks, etc, etc) and Republicans representing significant gay populations, like Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (South Beach and Key West), Mary Bono Mack (Palm Springs) and John Culberson (Houston's Montrose district). But what about The Advocate's gayest cities besides Atlanta? We checked 'em all out (scores are in bracket next to their party identification):

#2 is represented in Congress by two pro-gay senators, Bernie Sanders (I- 100%) and Patrick Leahy (D- 100%) and a pro-gay congressman, Peter Welch (D-100%). Iowa City, #3, sports a gay-friendly congressman, Dave Loebsack (D-100%) and one pro-gay senator, Tom Harkin (D- 100%)) and one crazy old homophobe, Chuck Grassley (R- 0.00%). #4 is Bloomington, Indiana, our first really sad story. Evan Bayh (D- 100%) and Richard Lugar (R- 100%) both surprised me with perfect voting records. The sad part is the local congressman from Bloomington, homophobe Baron Hill (Blue Dog- 60%) who was one of only 15 Democrats to vote against the enabling legislation for the hate crimes bill, has one of the lowest scores on gay issues of any Democrat in Congress, slightly worse than his Indiana Blue Dog colleague Joe Donnelly and a fraction better than homophobic maniacs Allen Boyd of Florida, Artur Davis of Alabama, John Barrow of Georgia and fellow Indianan Brad Ellsworth.

Madison (#5) is in great shape of course, having elected the first openly gay woman to Congress, Tammy Baldwin (D- 100%) and two gay-friendly senators, Herb Kohl (D- 100%) and Russ Feingold (D- 60%, who wandered off into some technicalities on a couple of votes but is generally considered a friend and ally of the Wisconsin gay community). #6 is New Orleans are their Senate representation is split. Landrieu (D- 100%) is a friend of the New Orleans gay community and sex-addict and sociopath David "Diapers" Vitter boasts a perfect zero of hatred and bigotry, working diligently to target gay people in every way possible. He's considered one of the gay community's most vicious and aggressive foes. The congressman from New Orleans, Ahn Cao (R-50) isn't as bad as most of his Republican colleagues-- but he represents more gay people than just about any other Republican and he went along with them to vote against the hate crimes enabling legislation, although he did vote for the bill once it was assured passage.

Fort Lauderdale (#7) is gerrymandered up between 3 congressional districts and various parts of the city are represented by gay rights advocates Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D- 100%) and Alcee Hastings (D- 100%) and by tepid supporter Ron Klein (D- 87.50%). The two Florida senators, Bill Nelson (D- 100%) and George LeMieux (R- 0.00%) are polar opposites. This is especially tragic since LeMieux is a political operative and appointee of Florida's closeted gay governor, Charlie Crist, and because Florida has one of the largest gay populations in America.

Maine has two GOP senators with perfect gay rights voting records, Olympia Snowe (R- 100%) and Susan Collins (R- 100%). Portland (#8) is represented by Chellie Pingree (D- 100%) who is a dedicated advocate for Maine's gay community. Austin is #9 and the community there really does have a problem with their representative in DC. Neither Texas senator, John Cornyn (R- 25.0%) nor Kay Bailey Hutchison (R- 20.0%), is any good for gays and Austin itself was carved up and diluted between 3 red-leaning districts to prevent it from becoming a progressive bastion. Michael McCaul R- 0.00%), a dedicated homophobe, represents the eastern part of the city; far right fanatic Lamar Smith (R- 0.00%) represents the UT campus and much of downtown Austin; but Lloyd Doggett (D- 75%), a main target in Tom DeLay's gerrymander, has been re-elected-- with massive gay community support.

Seattle (#10) is a liberal city. Washington's two senators, Maria Cantwell (D- 100%) and Patty Murray (D- 100%), are both strong supporters of the gay community. The Metro Area has 4 congressmen: Jim McDermont (D- 100%) who's got most of the city proper, Jay Inslee (D- 72.73%) in the northern suburbs, Adam Smith (D- 75.00%) in the southern suburbs and anti-gay crusader Dave Reichert (R- 20.00%). Inslee and Reichert are both disappointments for the gay community and Smith could be a lot better. Only Reichert, though, voted against the Hate Crimes bill.

Gainesville (#11) is divided between a dangerous homophobic fanatic, Cliff Stearns (R- 0.00) and a somewhat reluctant ally, Corinne Brown (D- 81.82). Asheville may be an artsy "prime example of the new gay South," as The Advocate terms it, but their congressman, Heath Shuler (D- 50.0%) is a member of the homophobic C-Street cult and he is a dedicated enemy of gay families. He's the only Democrat representing one of these gay cities to have voted against the hate crimes bill (once it was guaranteed passage, Hill voted aye; Shuler still voted "no"). Springfield (#13) is represented by progressive Richard Neal (D- 100%), a gay rights champion. #14 is San Diego and it's divided between two Democrats, progressive and pro-gay Bob Filner (D- 100%) and disappointing Susan Davis (D- 75%), and two violently anti-gay Republicans, Duncan Hunter, Jr (R- 0.00%) and Brian Bilbray (R- 0.00%). And, at #15, Albuquerque is fortunate to have elected a friend of the gay community, Martin Heinrich (D- 100%) and two have two pro-gay senators, Mark Udall (D- 100%) and Jeff Bingaman (D- 100%).

In a comment under the earlier post, progressive grassroots candidate Doug Tudor, who's running for the seat in west Florida being vacated by homophobe Adam Putnam, expressed his own feelings of support for gay people. A lifelong career Naval officer, Tudor has served alongside gay men and women working to protect America. His perspective is clear as a bell-- although something not appreciated by conservatives, whether Republicans or Blue Dog Democrats (one of whom is running against him in a primary; the DCCC, of course, is pushing the Blue Dog and trying to pressure Doug out of the race).

Thank you for very clearly defining the issue. Disappointed and disillusioned Progressives should never join with the conservatives as some sort of a misplaced protest. Instead, they should only support their true friends ... true Progressives.

As every voter should do, Progressives must research the issues, ask the candidates hard questions, and demand real answers, not campaign slogans. Change and Hope are not courses of action.

As for me, I would vote to repeal DADT and DOMA, and I would vote for ENDA. Additionally, I would ensure the Justice Department was fully funded and held fully accountable for prosecuting hate crimes against GLBT citizens.

Statements like this is why Doug Tudor was one of the first batch of candidates who are part of Blue America's Send Democrats A Message page. And he doesn't represent one of America's gayest cities.

Three Democrats Join GOP In An Attempt To Scuttle Health Insurance For Needy Children

Earlier today DWT and Crooks & Liars hosted the new head of the DCCC's Red to Blue Program. When asked about reactionary Democrats crossing the aisle to vote with the Republicans on core Democratic values-- like equality in the workplace for women-- he didn't mince words:

It's extremely frustrating to me. It doesn't seem like one of those defining issues that is going to be used against you to paint you as a tool of the Speaker, which is usually what happens in these races in the Deep South. It does seem like this is an issue that is a defining issue for Democratic voters and I would hope that Democrats in those districts in Alabama and around the country would make their feelings known to help educate these new members to the fact that just because you have received support in the past, to pick up an open seat, does not mean that you can ignore what your party stands for when it comes to basic tenets.

He had to rush off from our session to vote on SCHIP. Before that vote, there was a procedural attempt by the Republicans to kill it. It failed 244-178. Three reactionary fake Democrats joined every single Republican in trying to sabotage health care for needy children. The culprits?

Baron Hill (Blue Dog- IN)
Walt Minnick (ID)
Heath Shuler (Blue Dog-NC)

Hill is the co-chair of the reactionary Blue Dogs in charge of policy. Minnick was just elected and has voted with the Republicans on every disputed bill that has come up so far. And Shuler... Rahm Emanuel's one success from 2006, a Republican jackass masquerading as a Democrat who thinks he's going to run for Richard Burr's Senate seat in 2010, something that would insure another six years for Burr.


UPDATE: SCHIP PASSES... AGAIN

The Republicans tried another tactic to kill the bill (a motion to recommit) and it failed 179- 247. Three Republicans, Chris Smith (NJ), Frank LoBiondo (NJ) and Vern Buchanan (FL), voted with the Democrats and 5 reactionary Democrats crossed the aisle in the other direction:

Bobby Bright (AL)
Walt Minnick (ID)
Gene Taylor (MS)
Jim Marshall (GA)
Mike McIntyre (NC)

In the end 40 Republicans voted for final passage, bringing the total to 289 for and only 139 against. Only two fake Democrats voted against it:

Jim Marshall (GA)
Bobby Bright (AL)

EVERYBODY'S FAVORITE REPUBLICAN NAZI LOSES HIS PRIMARY-- THE INDIANA CONGRESSIONAL PRIMARIES

A couple weeks ago we were all aghast watching Tony Zirkle, an Indiana Republican candidate for Congress celebrating Hitler's birthday at a Nazi Party meeting. He lost his primary today, coming in third-- but still earning 3,566 Republican votes in the second CD. The 3 Republicans together wound up with less than 20,000 votes and Democratic incumbent Joe Donnelly, who had no challenger, had almost 85,000 votes.



In the third CD Republican rubber stamp incumbent Mark Souder garnered 26,689, winning his primary, while the Democrat challenging him, Mike Montagano, who was unopposed, had 57,489 votes. It was a similar story in the 4th CD, where GOP incumbent Steve Buyer won his primary-- all 3 Republicans getting around 43,000 votes while Nels Ackerson, the Democratic challenger (unopposed) got over 55,000.

Republican loon Dan Burton had a tough primary but he beat his opponent 25,678  to 18,730. Mary Etta Ruley, the winning Democrat in the district, did better than either of them with 26,662 votes. In the 5th CD there were around 44,000 Republican voters and 46,000 Democratic voters.

The big shocker though was in the 6th District where Blue America-endorsed progressive Barry Welsh took 82,179  votes, as opposed to rubber stamp extremist Mike Pence who only had 38,031 votes.

In the 7th CD Andre Carson, with 7 Democratic primary challengers, won convincingly. He will face Jon Elrod (who had 17,000 votes compared to Carson's 58,000). In the 8th CD reactionary Democrat Brad Ellsworth had no primary. And in the 9th another reactionary Dem, Baron Hill, fended off his primary challengers, including Blue America-endorsed Gretchen Clearwater.

Right now 95% of the votes are counted in Indiana. Clinton has 606,497 votes (50.7%) and Obama has 589,888 votes (49.3%). Gary, Indiana hasn't reported most of its votes and that is Obama territory. They are still counting absentee ballots.

GRETCHEN CLEARWATER TAKES ON REACTIONARY BUSH DOG BARON HILL IN INDIANA

Three days ago Gretchen Clearwater announced that she is running for Congress in Indiana's 9th CD for a seat currently held by Bush Dog Dem Baron Hill. Readers of this blog are aware of Hill's steadfast support for the Bush-Cheney agenda-- in Iraq and here at home. He was the first of the reactionary Dems to fold after being targeted by Blue America with robo-calls and the threat of a newspaper ad regarding his support for Bush's S-CHIP veto. But Gretchen is hardly new to this. She ran against Hill, a Rahm Emanuel fave, in 2006 as well. In 2006 I looked at both candidates and Gretchen was clearly the more suitable. But with huge Insider support, Hill won-- handily-- and Gretchen went back to work at the University of Indiana and, of course, at grassroots activism in the 9th CD. Hill, on the other hand, promptly joined the Blue Dog coalition and has been voting against progressive values and principles ever since. If Gretchen replaces him, that isn't a caucus she would consider joining. "I hope to work with people like John Conyers, Russ Feingold, Dennis Kucinich, Barbara Lee. The Progressive Caucus needs some more people on their side."

Grtechen Clearwater is the Blue America candidate today and she'll be answering questions over at FDL starting at 2pm (EST). The differences between Gretchen and Hill are crystal clear-- far more now than they were last year-- when Democrats couldn't see beyond just getting read of right wing fanatic Mike Sodrel. "Times have changed," Gretchen told me on the phone a few days ago. People who didn't support her last year have been urging her to take Hill on again.

People are frustrated with Congress and Baron Hill has voted the wrong way on a number of occasions. SCHIP is one example but labor folks are pretty angry about his votes on 'free' trade and see those votes as a threat to their jobs. And when you're talking about people losing their jobs, you're talking about people losing their homes. Indiana has one of the highest rates of home foreclosures. And Baron voted for the bankruptcy bill that has exacerbated the problem... Last time all the districts Democratic chairs unanimously-- except for Monroe County, where I'm from-- endorsed Baron Hill during the primary. Now the chairman from Monroe County is lobbying the rest of the county chairs to not endorse during the primary.

I think I have more courage than Baron Hill. I'm willing to look at a bill and vote against it if I think it's going to be bad for this district or for the country. And he tends to not lead; when you elect someone to Congress they ought to be leaders. He follows and does what people tell him to do. Someone in the Indiana legislature told me recently that they see me as a dangerous candidate because I'm not going to vote down-the-line the way a Rahm Emanuel might tell me to vote.

Rarely do Democratic candidates feel comfortable talking about the dark force behind the DCCC. I asked her how she felt about Emanuel's dire warnings to Democratic candidates to "move right" on immigration. "I think that's a crazy idea," she said. The issue is far too complicated for someone to be able to say 'move right' or 'move left' on it. There are several issues that need to be looked at and given serious consideration from labor laws to 'free' trade agreements. We're dealing with human beings. Here in the 9th district of Indiana many people have lost jobs because of industry moving to Mexico or China and they don't blame Mexican immigrants for this. The fault lies with industry moving out. They know who to blame. The immigration issue is a hyped up issue. Most Americans are decent people who can look at all sides of that issue. The xenophobia from the loud minority is something that scares me."

Thursday night Gretchen was at a fundraising dinner for Jill Long Thompson, a progressive
Democrat who is running for against extremist incumbent Mitch Daniels, a former Bush Regime operative. Gretchen got a very encouraging reception.

"At the fund raiser many people approached me indicating that they would be backing me this time. They gave me their names and volunteered to help with my campaign. I spoke to Indiana Progressives chair Eldon Robison at length. He talked about the outrageous capitulations that Hill has made in Congress and he indicated that I was the better candidate hands down and that he would be in touch with me often throughout the campaign. Last time they were reluctant to do so.  They barely spoke to me and in fact wound up supporting Hill."

Emanuel, of course, is still there for Hill, and if things get hairy I'm sure Hoyer and Pelosi will be shuttling down to IN-09 for fundraisers, just like they did for Al Wynn, but across the district Democrats are waking up and realizing Baron Hill isn't  one of them. And those who haven't woken up yet... well Gretchen has some plans for a grassroots campaign that will help to wake them too. Here are a few paragraphs from her announcement speech this week that address the nay-sayers who think its impossible to defeat an incumbent:

To those who say I am not viable, I believe my views are more in the mainstream of the Democratic Party than those of my opponent. Unlike my opponent, I would have voted for S-CHIP every time. I would have supported higher fuel efficiency standards for cars. I would not have given financial institutions any help in bankruptcy proceedings when those same institutions continue to gouge us with their outrageous fees and interest rates. I would not have voted to authorize the war in Iraq and you can count on me to oppose a war with Iran. I would not have voted to give the executive branch more power to violate your rights through warrant-less wire-tapping. Who is more viable?

To those who say I am inexperienced, I believe I have already shown far greater wisdom and more common sense than the experienced politicians, who foolishly trusted and continue to trust President Bush.

To those who fear that I will hurt the Democratic Party’s chances of winning in the November general election, I say-- the failure of the Democratic leadership in Congress to confront President Bush has done far more damage to the party’s reputation and chances of winning than anything my presence on the ballot could ever do.

And if that doesn't sound convincing to you, ask Gretchen how she feels about impeachment. She brought it up to me and then said Bush and Cheney both belong behind bars. Gretchen will be the last Blue America candidate added to our list until 2008. More than most candidates she needs some grassroots support and I won't be asking you to dig deep for a couple months, so... Blue America is open and I'm hoping you'll join me in giving Gretchen Clearwater a hand.

BLUE AMERICA JUST SAVED A TON OF MONEY-- AND WE KNOW EXACTLY WHAT TO DO WITH IT

ad design by J-Ro

The e-mail had already gone out this afternoon-- a full page in the Bloomington Herald Times, sure to hit the highest concentration of Democratic voters in Indiana's 9th CD-- when we got the word a minute of two later: reactionary Democrat Baron Hill had raised the white flag and agreed to vote with the rest of the Democratic Party to override Bush's heartless and toxic veto of the S-CHIP law overwhelmingly passed with bipartisan support in both houses of Congress. Hill had been stunned by the 40,000 robo calls Democrats in IN-09 had gotten which reminded them that their Democratic congressman was voting with the far right of the Republican Party to wreck health insurance for needy children.

The full page in the Sunday newspaper would have been too much for the already vulnerable conservative congressman to absorb. So he released a half-assed statement belatedly jumping on the band wagon. We were able to cancel the print order just in time. And that was really lucky because we have lots of good Democrats in Georgia's third CD who need to hear about how their congressman, Jim Marshall, stands on S-CHIP, known as PeachCare in Georgia. We'll explain that tomorrow, but if you want to help now-- or just get a preview of Digby's brilliantly written ad, you can jump over to the preview page.

BAD DEMOCRATS... WORSE REPUBLICANS... HOW MUCH DOES IT REALLY MATTER? INDIANA GETS A "CHOICE" BETWEEN BARON HILL & MIKE SODREL AGAIN

fric'n'frak

Look at this list of the (Baker's) Dirty Dozen:

Baron Hill (IN)
Jim Matheson (UT)
Zachary Space (OH)
Brad Ellsworth (IN)
Dan Boren (OK)
Joe Donnelly (IN)
Chris Carney (PA)
Heath Shuler (NC)
Jason Altmire (PA)
Gene Taylor (MS)
Nick Lampson (TX)
Jim Marshall (GA)
John Barrow (GA)

Regular DWT readers can probably make an educated guess what it's a list of. I mean you know it's a big pile of crap. But what it is, specifically, are the 13 Democrats-- or "Democrats"-- who, according to Progressive Punch's new "When the Chips Are Down" rating system are most likely to defect and vote with the Republicans. They are all reactionaries who tend to vote with the GOP against women's choice, against equality for minorities, against immigrants, against health care for children, for endless war in Iraq, for economic policies that give special treatment to corporations at the expense of ordinary citizens, against the environment, etc.

None of them is as bad as an actual Republican but they are the closest thing to a Republican and in many votes it just wouldn't matter. Example: if you want to see enactment of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) you might not be surprised to find that many on the list above were "no" votes. Persuasion from real Democrats-- both in Congress and in their home districts-- have convinced several of them to agree, however reluctantly, to vote to override Bush's odious veto. Only 5 persist in their opposition:

Baron Hill
Jim Marshall
Gene Taylor
Mike McIntyre
Bob Etheridge

I hope those first 3 names look familiar. They're on that list above-- and they're always on lists when Democrats vote with Republicans to screw ordinary citizens. Let's single out one of them-- the one on top of each list, Indiana's on-again-off-again Congressman Baron Hill, a grubby career politician who keeps getting voted out of office and then clawing his way back in. Of course, the identical description could be applied to his wing nut Republican opponent, Mike Sodrel. Sodrel announced yesterday he's running against Hill-- again. Of course, to Indiana's needy families it wouldn't matter; neither of these guys support ordinary Indianans. They both vote for the special interests who donate to their campaigns. Is Sodrel worse? Sure... but the difference is between an "F" and a "D," not an "F" and an "A" or "B." And ask sick children; to them there is no difference whatsoever.

This will be the 4th match-up between the two reactionaries from opposing political parties.

Sodrel and Hill have both been rubber stamps for the worst of Bush's agenda, particularly in Iraq, the issue that matters most to voters.

Sodrel said he was not discouraged by his loss to Hill last year because he believes the election was affected by issues unrelated to him.

"In the last election people were upset with the president for not changing tactics in Iraq, for his position on border security," Sodrel said. But, he said, "I was the only one running."

Hill won last year with 50 percent of the vote to Sodrel's 45.5 percent in a three-way contest. The third candidate, Libertarian Eric Schansberg, a professor at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany, said he also intends to run again and welcomed Sodrel's announcement.

At a news conference following his announcement, Sodrel said he decided to declare his candidacy early -- more than a year before the election-- because it will take time to raise the minimum $1.3 million he expects will be needed to run a credible campaign.

Sodrel spent $2.7 million for the 2006 race and the GOP and other groups spent $3.3 million to help him. The Democratic Party and interest groups spent $3.1 million to boost the $1.8 million spent by Hill.

Today's Congressional Quarterly looks at the rivalry between the two reactionaries. Par for the course, they mislabel Hill "a moderate," although fail to point to any moderation whatsoever in his very conservative voting record.

Voters in the mostly conservative-leaning southeastern part of Indiana have to go back to the year 2000 for a House general election that wasn’t Hill vs. Sodrel. Hill, a centrist Democrat who was first elected to the House in 1998, won his first matchup with Sodrel — the owner of a trucking, shipping and motor coach company-- by a 5 percentage-point margin in 2002. Sodrel then captured the seat for the GOP in 2004 by a margin of half a percentage point. But Hill rebounded to take the seat back, defeating Sodrel by fractionally less than 5 points in a campaign year marked by Republican setbacks nationwide.

Sodrel and Republican strategists are hopeful that the political environment will be more favorable to them next year than in 2006, when Indiana’s 9th was among the 30 districts that the Democrats wrested from the Republicans in their successful campaign to take control of the House. In that year’s hard-hitting contest, Sodrel attacked Hill’s votes on social issues and portrayed him as a liberal, while Hill’s campaign ads referred to the wealthy Sodrel as “Millionaire Mike” and linked him to some Republican members of Congress who had committed ethical misconduct.

The 9th District has usually voted Republican for president, including in 2004, when Bush carried it by 19 percentage points. But there are pockets of Democratic voting in the district, the largest of which is in Monroe County, which includes part of the liberal-leaning academic community in and around Indiana University in Bloomington.

Close House elections in Indiana’s 9th have, in fact, been the norm since 1998, when Hill was elected by a 3-point margin to succeed retiring Democrat Lee Hamilton, who had dominated elections in his 34 years of service (1965-99). In the past five elections, the high water mark for the winner in Indiana 9th was the still-modest 54 percent vote share with which Hill won a second term in 2000.

Sodrel had a strongly conservative voting record during his single House term. On House votes that pitted most Republicans against most Democrats, Sodrel sided with the majority Republican position 96 percent of the time in 2005 and 97 percent of the time in 2006-- “party unity” scores that were among the highest in House Republican ranks.

Hill votes with most of his own party’s colleagues most of the time, but his party line record on the Democratic side is not as strong as Sodrel’s was among Republicans.

Yesterday the Blue America PAC helped finance 40,000 calls to Democratic voters in Hill's district making sure that they understand that he may call himself a Democrat but that he votes with the GOP on crucial and basic issues-- like on children's health care. If Congressman Hill thinks we've had our say and we're finished with him, he is in for a very big surprise.

CAN INDIANA HELP TURN CONGRESS BLUE? INDIANA???

The next primaries coming up that have caught my attention are on May 2nd in Indiana. Indiana has 9 congressional districts and 7 of them are held my right-wing extremist Republicans. The easiest race is in the 8th CD, western Indiana, where heroic and much admired Evansville Sheriff Brad Ellsworth is challenging the delusional lunatic who represents the district now, John Hostettler. Like all 7 Indiana Republicans, Hostettler is pure rubber-stamp. Brad has no primary challenger and Democrats, independents and even moderate Republicans are uniting behind him. Hostettler squeaked by with 53% of the vote in 2004. Brad, basically a conservative Democrat by national standards, seems to have a great chance to take the seat.

The most interesting race is for the seat currently held by freshman Republican Michael Sodrel. Sodrel is so far right that he's considered one of the looniest whackos on Capitol Hill. He gets a perfect zero on almost every important issue that came up in Congress since he was elected. Every single time it came up he supported corporate welfare against the interests of workers and consumers; he voted wrong on every single piece of tax legislation; wrong on issues involving health care, family planning, housing, justice, government checks on corporate power, labor rights, human rights, civil justice, and, of course, on all issues of war and peace. Sodrel has a perfect zero on all those categories of issues. He goes beyond rubber-stamp into the very definition of partisan hack and extremist fruitcake. His watertight connections to convicted Republican bribe-taker Randy "Duke" Cunningham as well as to GOP crime syndicate leaders like Tom DeLay, Roy Blunt and John Boehner make his ethics look very shady (although he hasn't been indicted for any crimes). Now what makes this race so interesting is that he is the only congressman who won with less than half the votes. A third party candidate threw him the election over the Democratic incumbent Baron Hill. And this year Hill is back in southern Indiana's 9th CD as a challenger.

But there's a twist. Hill is a MAJOR priority for the Inside-the-Beltway power establishment and for Rahm Emanuel's anti-grassroots DCCC. And Hill is pretty... moderate. His record on some of the key issues that separate the two parties is spotty. His campaign website, like most good little DCCC shills' websites, avoids discussing issues. Making this race really interesting is that Hill and the DCCC are fighting an intrepid grassroots idealist, a 100% progressive activist named Gretchen Clearwater. For people who complain that politicians from the two D.C. parties are too similar and just sort of morph into each other in too many ways, Gretchen is as good as it gets. If Hill's website avoids controversy entirely, Gretchen grabs it by the horns and wrestles it to the ground. She's ready to join Russ Feingold in censuring (or John Conyers in impeaching!) Most DCCC hacks don't even mention Iraq or if they do, they almost never take a stand that is different from what a Republican would say. If every Democrat took the kind of stand Gretchen takes on her website, the Democrats would sweep Congress:

I am committed to bringing about a resolution in Iraq and to bringing our soldiers home. Questioning this war is the responsible thing to do. It is the only way the war will end. My conscience will not let me stand idly by as thousands of people are wounded and killed.
There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. This administration has circumvented the Geneva Convention by redefining torture and evading responsibility for countless abuses. This is not the way to spread democracy. Our soldiers are sent to battle without the weapons and armor needed to protect them on the front lines. When they come home they are denied their hard-earned medical benefits.
Our National Guardsmen should be home for emergencies such as Hurricane Katrina. Their services are being misused. Our troops are fighting for an unknown time and for unknown goals. I will support legislation such as HR 55, the Homeward Bound bill - which sets a time line for return and mechanisms that would help fund Iraq's recovery.

And on issue after issue, that's what you get. If she wins the primary, next November IN-09 voters will have a clear choice between a right-wing rubber-stamp Republican and a proud progressive true blue Democrat. You want to get involved? It's not too late. Go here to volunteer for Gretchen's campaign.

The 6th CD in east-central Indiana (around Muncie and Richmond) is currently held by Mike Pence someone so extreme and so right-wing that he almost makes Tom DeLay look like a moderate! The only time Pence is not a rubber-stamp is on the rare occasion that the GOP position isn't whacko enough! As horrible as Pence is-- and, frankly, it just doesn't get any worse-- that's how good his Democratic opponent, Barry Welsh, is. Like Gretchen, he faces all the toughest issues head on-- and comes up on the correct side each time. Listen to what he has to say about a woman's right to choice and about same-sex marriage:

I am the pastor of a church, and when someone comes to me with an unwanted pregnancy situation, I do not council for abortion under any circumstances, and I do not judge people that make that choice.
Sometimes pregnancies are terminated due to medical necessity, sometimes pregnancies are terminated due to rape or incest or both, and sometimes pregnancies are terminated by choice. No matter the reason, I know that there are psychological implications when this choice is made, and I do not believe in compounding that mental burden with social torment.
Congressman Pence and I both agree that abortion is not the personal choice of either of us, we disagree on making criminals of those that are faced with this difficult decision. Until an individual is faced with that choice, it is easy to say what one would do, so I choose not to judge. Marriage is a sacrament of our faith and is Biblically between a man and a woman. But I also understand that just because I do not believe in same sex marriage, does not mean that people should be denied civil rights.

Like Gretchen, he's amazing on all the issues, from "We support our troops by bringing them home as quickly as possible" to "Congress had no trouble voting for their own cost of living wage, but then forget about those that are struggling just to survive. I propose a one-dollar increase in the minimum wage in the first year, and a fifty-cent raise in the second year." This is the kind of guy I want to see in Congress-- not the Rahm Emanuel empty suits who smell like Republicans but an honest to goodness commonsense progressive!

The other district that looks like fertile ground for a Democrat is the 2nd CD in north-central Indiana from Michigan City, South Bend and Elkhart down to Kokomo. It will probably be a re-match between moderate Democrat Joe Donnelly and ultra right-wing kook Chris Chicola. A lock-step Republican zombie, Chicola couldn't be more of a rubber-stamper if he tried. He's a symbol for everything that is wrong with Republican misgovernment in Washington and maybe that's why MoveOn.org decided to target him-- along with only 3 other equally abysmal Republicans-- with his very own TV spot, which you can watch by clicking here. There is also a progressive Democrat in the primary, Steve Francis, who sounds great on all the issues.

The races in the other districts would need a major Democratic tsunami for any changes from red to blue. CD 3 in the northeast of the state (from Goshen to Fort Wayne) is represented by Mark Souder, another entrenched rubber-stamper (though not as far off the cliff of insanity as Sodrel or Pence-- but almost). There appear to be 4 Democrats vying for the opportunity to challenge him: Kevin Boyd, a progressive pastor who looks GREAT on the issues, Tom Hayhurst, whose slick website smells DCCC all the way (no positions on issues), and 2 guys with no websites Thomas Schrader and Edward Smith.

The 4th CD is just west of Indianapolis and includes Lafayette, Greenwood and Bedford. Stephen Buyer-- another garden variety far right maniac and rubber-stamp corporate asskisser-- is the incumbent. The 3 Democrats fighting it out in the primary are Rick Cornstuble, a retired school teacher and a moderate, Dave Sanders, a biodefense researcher and national security policy expert, also a moderate, and Darin Kinser, who has no website.

The 5th CD is the home of one of the worst jackasses in Congress, Republican loon and wild extremist Dan Burton. This certifiably-insane person goes beyond rubber-stamp. If we are ever to see a real fascist/KKK take-over of this country this is one of the nuts to watch. The Democrats who want to take him on are Katherine Carr, a middle class retiree with a solid analysis of what Bush and the rubber-stamp Congress have done to screw things up in our country, Mike Clements, a handsome young fella with no issues on his DCCC-smelling website, and a couple of guys with no websites, Tom Williams and Mike Brown.

I asked the Art Deptartment to do a picture with Gretchen and Barry because they both seem so awesome but Sophie and Sadie go to sleep around 7 and Adam passed out drunk and only stuck Gretchen into the art. Anyone who's keeping score-- we like Barry Welsh too.