Although she’s not a formally declared candidate yet, State Rep. Jackie Walorski (R) is preparing to mount a formidable campaign against incumbent blue dog Congressman Joe Donnelly (D) in the 2^nd District.  For months the rumors have circulated around the northern part of the district that if there was one Republican Donnelly did not want to face, it was Walorski.  A proven and tough fighter, Jackie can rouse a crowd, impress donors, earn media attention, and carry legislation forward like someone who should be in Congress.  Maybe that’s one of the reasons why she’s running.

At the end of last October, a detailed open records information request on Rep. Walorski’s official affairs was sent to the Clerk of the Indiana House of Representatives.  The request originated with a Kevin McKeon in Washington D.C. with the highly original e-mail address of kevin.mckeon+walorskirequest@gmail.com.  With an address like that you’ve got to wonder how long this guy’s been planning to make a request, or if he’s just really, really interested in what an Indiana State Representative is doing.

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Scouting around I think it is safe to say that the Mr. McKeon of the records request is the same Mr. McKeon who serves as the Deputy Research Director for the DCCC.  (See LinkedIn profile here.)  This would of course indicate that it is no coincidence that he’s arming himself with as much information as he can about Rep. Walorski.  It also tends to indicate that the DCCC is not taking any chances with Joe Donnelly’s race.  He did vote for the health care bill, a massive restructuring and takeover of the American health care system, so now they are returning the favor by doing some opposition research for his campaign.

The request asked for, among other things, any and all correspondence between Rep. Walorski and 12 elected state and federal officials, all of whom are Republican.  Every single Republican member of Indiana’s Congressional delegation was mentioned, but not a single piece of correspondence with a Democrat official was requested.  Walorski’s entire House district is represented by a Democrat, Joe Donnelly, but apparently this fact-finder thinks it’s more important to obtain any correspondence between Walorski and Dick Cheney than it is to get cross-party correspondence.  I have to wonder what an exchange between Walorski and Cheney would be about: Water boarding?  Nuclear weapons? Probably Haliburton.

While this request is certainly interesting, Republicans should be encouraged by it.  Sure, it’s probably part of a routine procedure that the DCCC does for all incumbent office-holders challenging one of their candidates, but it shows that they’re taking this race seriously and for us, that means we’ve got a serious shot at taking this race.