So Have The Democrats Decided To Just Cede The Indiana Senate Seat To The GOP?

Expect a letter or e-mail-- probably both-- from the DSCC urging you to save Evan Bayh's Indiana Senate seat for the Democrats. First of all, did the Democrats ever even have a Senate seat in Indiana occupied by a Bayh since Birch Bayh left? Since Obama was elected president, Birch's ConservaDem son Evan has had the second worst voting record, according to ProgressivePunch, of any Senate Democrat other than Ben Nelson, who makes a point of being able to brag that on tough, close, substantive votes he votes more frequently with the GOP than with the Democrats! Bayh isn't as bad-- but he's almost as bad, and his voting record (55.07% with Dems) is worse than Blanche Lincoln's, Arlen Specter's, Joe Lieberman's, Mary Landrieu's and, so far... Scott Brown's!

But there is another Democrat whose voting record is worse than Bayh's. He's just not in the Senate. Yet. Bayh's retirement announcement was timed to stick the Republicans with a third-rate candidate, sleazy lobbyist Dan Coats, and stick Indiana Democrats with a hand-picked bosses' delight. Bayh and his political machine have chosen right-wing Democrat Brad Ellsworth-- an original Rahm Emanuel vintage Blue Dog from 2006. He's being shoved down the throats of Indiana Democrats without a primary his conservative ass could never win.

One of the House's vilest and most repulsive and aggressive homophobes-- and a political coward catering to Republican framing as his standard default position-- Ellsworth's score for the 111th Congress on close, crucial votes was an astonishing 35.82, one of the worst of any Democrat who doesn't represent a former slave-holding area. Yesterday, for example, the House agreed to just consider voting on an appropriations bill for the U.S. Intelligence services. It passed 237-176. All 166 obstructionist Republicans who are against every single Democratic proposal voted no, and so did 9 super-reactionary Blue Dogs who regularly make common cause with the GOP. Of course Ellsworth was one of them.

Democratic Party activist Bil Browning has been warning Indiana Democrats that by forcing Ellsworth on the party they will be following in the footsteps of the catastrophic Creigh Deeds strategy and handing the seat to even the weak GOP candidate.

Stan Greenberg, the noted pollster who served as an adviser to President Clinton just before the disastrous 1994 midterm elections, has a new piece out in the New Republic. In it, he describes how to avoid a repeat in 2010:

If I were writing a memo to the Democratic leaders, this is where I would begin. Put aside the rancor and gridlock and show a very different face. Take Paul Krugman's advice and quickly pass a version of the Senate health care bill. That will raise presidential and congressional approval ratings, just as Clinton bucked up Democrats by passing nafta and tax increases for deficit reduction--neither of which were popular at the time.

They must put the Republicans on the defensive. Make them an offer they can't refuse on bipartisan legislation they dare not oppose--jobs measures that help small businesses and energy-independence legislation. Then, force Republicans to cast tough and defining votes--on Wall Street bonuses and bailouts and limiting corporate spending on elections.

This seems like good advice to me. The problem is, Brad Ellsworth has been on the Republican side on all of it. Health care? He voted for the House version of the health care bill, but only after becoming the only Indiana Democrat to vote for the GOP's motion to recommit, which would have killed the bill. He even threatened to vote against the entire bill unless he got his way on his pet anti-choice proposal, and it's no guarantee he'll vote for a bill again.

Energy independence? Ellsworth voted against the American Clean Energy and Security Act bill. Jobs? Ellsworth was just one of 11 House Democrats to vote against the President's own stimulus bill-- a bill that created jobs for Indiana, only reluctantly backing a smaller version later. Bailouts? He voted to bail out Wall Street-- twice-- in late 2008. Foreclosures? He voted against the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009, which allows bankruptcy judges to modify mortgage loans to help families stay in their homes, among other means.

In other words, not only has Ellsworth tried to defeat legislation that would help middle-class Hoosiers who are struggling with their health care bills and mortgage payments, he's following exactly the opposite of Greenberg's advice-- casting the kind of votes that will sink a candidate for the Senate... But that's not the only thing. Another reason Ellsworth is a bad choice to be the Democratic statewide candidate is because it's hard to find Democrats who like him. One of the many missed lessons of 1994 was that Democrats that year had a base problem.

Core Democratic constituencies may not vote for Republicans, but it would be insane to expect them to turn out and vote for a reactionary like Ellsworth. He's been a demagogue on Latino issues, a disaster on LGBT issues, a disaster on women's issues, environmental issues, issues of vital importance to low-income groups, young people, unmarried women... If he expects to be elected-- as a Democrat-- without big support from these groups because he's spent the past few years kissing up to conservative Republicans, he's as stupid as he is conservative. Conservatives will vote for a Republican, not for a Democrat. Ellsworth will lose the Indiana Senate seat for the Democrats. Will Rahm Emanuel take responsibility and commit seppuku on the White House lawn? If so... it would be worth the loss of the seat.

So... when the DSCC gets in touch and asks you for some money, tell them you support progressive Democrats who are toiling for working families, not ConservaDems working for special interests and corporations. Tell them Brad Ellsworth was a crappy Blue Dog in the House and that the last thing we need in the Senate is another right-wing Democrat working with the GOP to prevent change. And tell them you'd rather give your donations to progressives running for the Senate, like Jennifer Brunner (D-OH), Elaine Marshall (D-NC) and Roxanne Conlin (D-IA) and Joe Sestak (D-PA), rather than their pack of sellout shills.

Did You Think Things Could Only Get Better With Bayh's Retirement? Think Again: Brad Ellsworth Will Be The Democratic Anointee

There's good news and there's bad news coming out of Indiana: Blue Dog shithead Brad Ellsworth is running for the Senate seat being vacated by ConservaDem Evan Bayh. No one would ever know Bayh left if Ellsworth gets the seat, although Ellsworth may be slightly more right-of-center and, primarily because he's newer to Beltway politics, not nearly as steeped in the kind of ungodly corporate corruption that defines Evan Bayh. Many think Bayh's announcement was timed to allow the Democratic Party to pick Ellsworth without a primary and to leave the Republicans with a gaggle of weak and ridiculous candidates (with no ability for any of their strong and ridiculous candidates, namely Mike Pence and Mitch Daniels, to get in on the action).

Ellsworth, handpicked and nurtured by Rahm Emanuel, was first elected in 2006, in a landslide victory over longtime incumbent, the certifiably insane John Hostettler, not just one of Congress' worst extremists but widely considered to be so obsessed with homosexuality that his mind has been warped beyond repair. Ironically, he's a candidate-- albeit a minor one-- in the GOP primary for the Senate seat as well.

IN-09, all of western Indiana save the heavily Democratic northern, industrial part of the state, is very Republican. The PVI is R +9. In 2004 Bush beat Kerry with 62% of the vote and 4 years later when Obama was winning statewide, IN-09, which includes Evansville, Vincennes, Greencastle and Terre Haute, only gave him 47% of the vote, while re-electing the unabashedly conservative Ellsworth with 65%. Ellsworth, in fact, is about as socially conservative as Hostettler! And he has one of the most unabashedly homophobic voting records of any Democrat anywhere. Hostettler rested his whole career, other than opposing aid to Katrina-stricken New Orleans, on religionist buffoonery and homophobia-- sponsoring a bill passed by the House to repeal a D.C. law that allowed city workers to register domestic partners for health benefits, sponsoring a bill to permit churches to engage in political campaigns without losing their tax exempt status, sponsoring the so-called "Marriage Protection Act" to prevent federal courts from ruling on same-sex marriage licenses, etc. Could Ellsworth really be as bad? Yesterday at Huff Po Indiana Democrat and gay activist Bil Browning went into Ellsworth's disgraceful record.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest LGBT political organization, ranks Ellsworth as one of the ten worst Democratic Congress members when it comes to LGBT issues; he scored a meager 30 out of 100 possible points.

...Ellsworth's schizophrenic voting record on LGBT issues indicates that he is not a reliable friend to the LGBT community. In 2007, he voted against a Republican attempt to kill hate crimes legislation, but then voted against the hate crimes bill when it came to the floor... When I questioned Ellsworth about it later that year, his candid response took me by surprise. He admitted that he voted against the bill because he knew there were already enough votes to pass it and anything seen as pro-gay would be unpopular to a large part of his conservative and rural district.

At the same time, Rep Ellsworth confirmed to me and the crowd gathered around that he would vote in favor of ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would outlaw workplace discrimination against LGBT people. Ellsworth cited his record as Vanderburgh County sheriff, where he implemented a non-discrimination policy that included sexual orientation.

While he did eventually end up voting in favor of a version of ENDA that stripped out transgender people, he also voted in favor of a Republican-led attempt to kill the legislation before the final vote by sending it back to committee for further study. Ellsworth hasn't co-sponsored the trans-inclusive version of ENDA currently sitting in committee and is one of only a few House Democrats not to publicly support the measure.

A member of the House Armed Services Committee, Ellsworth has also refused to state his position on repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The Representative isn't co-sponsoring any other LGBT-positive legislation nor has he put out any statements indicating he would support any of the current pro-LGBT legislation awaiting action in the House.

Obviously this race isn't going to rest on which candidate is more homophobic, especially since they are both very anti-gay. But on the tough, substantive votes when he was most needed by Democrats, Ellsworth has been a dependable vote-- for John Boehner. The GOP may will try to paint him as a rubber stamp but he's only been with the Dems 35.82% of the time on these tough votes in the 111th Congress, just slightly better than fellow reactionary Blue Dogs Baron Hill (33.33%) and Joe Donnelly (26.87). All three, for example, voted for the anti-Choice Stupak Amendment, which may make it difficult for Ellsworth to muster much enthusiasm from women or progressives. Last year he also joined the Republicans to vote against the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act and lots of other populist legislation that would play well in Indiana this year.

It looks like, for progressives, this will just be about having to decide whether or not to vote for someone with a "D" to prevent someone with an "F" getting into office. It sure didn't work in Virginia or Massachusetts! Here's his uninspiring, dull, it's-all-about-me statement on his decision to ascend to Bayh's seat.

"After many conversations with Hoosiers this week, and with the love and support of my family, I have decided to run for the U.S. Senate.

"The best years of my life are the more than two decades I spent in the local Sheriff’s department. Sheriff is a job that comes down to protecting families from harm, helping folks solve their problems or resolve their disputes, and just being willing to put your fellow citizens' best interests ahead of your own. When I look at the U.S. Senate these days, I sure think they could use more folks with those same qualities. And that's something I hope I could bring to the U.S. Senate – an independent voice to help Indiana through these tough economic times, and get things done for everyday folks who are really struggling."