Archive for February, 2008

Since my fellow blogger Scott has already beat me to the punch today and posted the video footage of Obama using another politician’s speech, I’ll follow that up with a post on Obama’s great oratorical powers. 

You see, it seems that folks at Obama rallies are just getting so excited about Hope and Change (whatever definition they assign to those vague pronouncements) they are fainting in the middle of his speeches.  Now, some people might get a little weary of people fainting at their rallies, but not Obama.   No, he seems to handle the problem well, too well in fact.  Below is a link to a video with a string of fainting clips for you to review.  When I first saw one clip I thought that the fainting might be real.  Now I’ve got my doubts about the genuineness of these faints and I’m not the only guy with such doubts.

Watch the video and leave a comment back here on Hoosier Access (I couldn’t get the video to embed into the post).

Last week Congress voted on whether or not the FISA law should be brought into the 21st Century.  FISA, a law governing the use of wiretaps and other measures used in surveillance of foreign individuals, was enacted in 1978 and it contains some serious loopholes that terrorists and their accomplices can use to escape detection.  In order to prevent another terrorist attack on the United States, FISA had to be modified after 9/11.  After the Democrats took control of Congress the law expired and Democrats decided that the political hot potato (so-called warrant-less wiretapping) was a little to hot to warrant a long term solution. 

In late January Congress passed a 15 day extension of the law.  That extension ran out last week so Congress once again had the chance to permanently update our intelligence laws for the 21st Century.  Unfortunately, House Democrats were either confused about what needs to take place or were apathetic to passing legislation that would protect the American people.  Two of Indiana’s very strong Republican candidates currently running against incumbent Democrats took the opportunity this vote provided to clarify how they differed from their opponents on the issue of national security.

Down in the 9th district Mike Sodrel had this to say about the vote:

“It is irresponsible for House Democrats to refuse to move the Senate’s bipartisan bill and let the Protect America Act expire.

“Democrats in Congress have decided to go home instead of doing their job by providing the tools our intelligence people need to protect Americans from terrorists”.

Up in the 2nd district Luke Puckett had this to say about the subject:

“Without the act in place, vital programs would be plunged into uncertainty and delay, and capabilities would continue to decline. Under the Protect America Act, we obtained valuable insight and understanding, leading to the disruption of planned terrorist attacks. Expiration would lead to the loss of important tools our workforce relies on to discover the locations, intentions and capabilities of terrorists and other foreign intelligence targets abroad.”

Puckett’s opponent, Joe Donnelly (D), played an interesting role in last week’s events.  On Wednesday morning Donnelly bucked party leadership and joined the Republicans on a roll call vote on the subject.  In the afternoon, however, Donnelly changed his position and joined his party leadership in the afternoon vote on the bill.  Either Joe Donnelly doesn’t know what his position is or he’s just not interested in protecting the American people and providing our national intelligence agencies with the legal tools that they need.

This fall the choice for voters accross America will be clear: The Republican candidates have pledged to do whatever it takes to win the defining conflict of our era, the Democratic candidates have continually failed to decisivly act on key proposals that have real consequences for our security.
 

Sure, this day is meant to recognize the birthday’s of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. But let’s not forget our nation’s most recent “agent of change” who brought hope and prosperity back to weary nation ravaged by war, strife, rising inflation and a complete lack of direction. Let’s not forget the man who inspired a generation of men and women to act in government with idea that individuals, and not government, can single handedly change the course of a nation.

Many on today’s campaign trail like to claim his vision and repeat his mantra, but as Pejman Yousefzadeh of Red State says “Cover politicians, like cover bands, can be entertaining. But I like the oldies. Oldies are the genuine article.“  The Almighty broke the mold when the Gipper was born.

Consider this your President’s Day open thread.

Hoosier Access Radio’s podcasts from the 2008 Marion County GOP slating are posted. These are also posted to iTunes and will be available within 24 hours.

Today is the Hoosier Access Radio commentary in two parts. Mayor Greg Ballard’s interview is in Part II.

Update: Added our interview with Chris Swatts

Marion County GOP Slating Part I

Marion County GOP Slating Part II

House District 86 candidate Adam Nelson’s interview

House District 89 candidate Christopher Swatts’ interview

 

 Slating Part I [32:48m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Slating Part II [41:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Adam Nelson [9:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Christopher Swatts [8:19m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Indiana’s own Kurt Luidhardt wrote a great analysis of the 7th Congressional race over Red State. Now before you think that I’m just plugging a post written by Kurt (which isn’t a bad thing), his post apparently caught the eye of the Directors at Red State and now resides in the coveted “Recommended Posts” section. Congrats Kurt! And thanks for shedding more light on the 7th CD race.

Update - Kurt’s post has been promoted to the top post on the front page of Red State! Way to go Kurt!

…or in this case never starts when you can’t get a wireless signal that you were told would be available. Truth be told, one was available to us, we just weren’t given a password to access the signal. C’est la vie! On a positive note, we were able to record a podcast of the days events and even came away with some great interviews.

Anyway, it was a great convention! It was so much better than I could have expected. To be honest, my hopes weren’t all too high consider all that was on the slate were Superior Court and Circuit Court races in addition to the HD 86 & 89 races. While the contested HD races were interesting, the judges races took the show.

For the announced 430 voting delegates that showed up, the judges races went to multiple ballots with four incumbents losing, total, losing in the slating and the Circuit Court race ending in a statistical tie between Alicia Gooden and James Joven because one voter used green ink to mark a ballot which was against the rules. That caused there to be a tie since the ballot was thrown out. This was announced after many of Joven’s supporters had left. Who won? You’ll have to listen to the podcasts.

Not to give too much away, we were able to get interviews with slated winners Chris Swatts in HD 89 and Adam Nelson in HD 86. We also got to spend some time with Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard, who is a voting precinct committeeman himself.

So stay tuned for the podcasts as they become available over the course of the weekend.

UPDATE - Below the fold are the winners in today’s Marion County GOP slating convention. (more…)

Update: Due to technical difficulties, the live blog will not be ‘live’. We will have reports from the event posted later today.  

Update - Tomorrow festivities should begin around 9:00am.

Tomorrow, Hoosier Access in conjunction with the Digital Farmer and Digital Agriculture Media will be live blogging the Marion County Republican Slating Convention. Sure, the exciting portion of the event took place back in January with the slating of Jon Elrod for the 7th CD seat, but there are still a bevy of State Rep. races to watch such as HD 86 and HD 89. Both races are contested heading into the slating convetion, with Adam Nelson and Kurt Webber duking it out for HD 86 and Holly Davis and Chris Swatts in a turf war for State Rep. Larry Buell’s seat. With the Indiana House of Representatives up for grabs in November, these two races will be key to watch.

In addition to blogging all the action, we will also interview the candidates during tomorrow’s action. Remember, the best coverage of the Republican slating convention will take place right here at Hoosier Access.

A friend of mine called me today to present me with a noodle scratcher. He asked, if Andre Carson wins the special election, he’d only be the second Muslim elected to congress. I said, “yeah, what’s your point?”. Then he reminded me of the hullabaloo that arose when Minnesota Democrat, and first Muslim elected to Congress, Keith Ellison had when he said he would take the oath of congress on a copy of the Koran instead of a bible.

Honestly, I think it’s a non-issue, but I knew this could start some interesting conversation.  Then again, you could all agree with me and this will get no response.

I’d copying a portion of a post I wrote on Josh in the Box shortly before Ellison was sworn in as a Congressman…on Thomas Jefferson’s copy of the Koran.  This should help stimulate good conversation.

The other big news (though should it be?) is that freshman Democrat from Minnesota Keith Ellison, the first Muslim to be elected to congress, will not be swearing his oath to uphold our Constitution on the bible, but on the Koran. Dennis Prager has his views, plus his defense of his views and Michael Medved has his. But I will admit, I’m a little torn about this issue. Many of our laws and customs have come straight from scripture. Both Jewish and non-believing congressmen have sworn their oaths on a bible (that includes the New Testament) and not on copies of the Talmud or the writings of Voltaire. So why can’t Ellison swear his oath on a bible? Then again, we are technically a secular nation (it’s true people, whether you want to believe it or not) so why should it matter that his oath will be sworn on the Koran?

So I present the question to you our dear Hoosier Access readers in an effort to get ahead of this discussion (which could eventually happen).  Should Andre win, should it matter what he swears his oath to uphold and protect the Constitution on?

Photo Courtesy of Jennifer Zartman Romano

The Whitley County Republican Party hosted Governor Daniels yesterday for our annual Lincoln Day Dinner. Reports can be found here, here, and here. Governor Daniels won over the crowd talking about his accomplishments over the past four years and what we can expect in another term. The crowd, which generally ranges between 70 - 100, included 170 people mostly from Whitley County but a few from other counties in northeast Indiana as well. The Governor also presented a Whitley County legend, 92-year old farmer and community leader Elmer Heinley, with the Sagamore of the Wabash Award before the dinner. I have never seen someone more appreciative of an honor than Elmer was of being recognized by the Governor.

Listen to Governor Daniels answer questions from a local reporter here.

Whitley County is the home county of potential Democrat nominee for Governor Jill Long-Thompson, who briefly represented our congressional district before being defeated by Congressman Mark Souder in 1994.

As I’ve mentioned in this space before, we love to brag on our own. One person we especially love to brag about is Jim Banks. Recently, Jim was interviewed by National Journal’s “The Hotline”. Is it right to say that we’re plugging this because his interview mentions Hoosier Access? In true political fashion, I say “no comment!” Way to go Jim!

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CONSULTANT CANDIDS: All Hail The Hoosier

Jim Banks is pres. of The Wabash Group, LLC, a full-service public affairs firm dedicated to serving conservative causes and political candidates. Banks began his political career with Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN-08) where he served in several different capacities — manager, press sec., grassroots dir. and fundraising dir. — on Hostettler’s successful re-election campaigns of ‘00 and ‘02. He has also worked for Focus on the Family and Focus on the Family Action as a nat’l grassroots organizer. In the ‘06 election cycle, Banks served as an assoc. to Patrick Davis Consulting, LLC. And today, he is our “Consultant Candid.”

What was your first job?
I was the head hotdog chef at a drive-in root beer stand during the summers in high school in Columbia City, Indiana.

What is your proudest moment professionally?
I’m still looking for that signature victory but to this point my proudest moment was realizing that I could actually make a living doing what I love — helping good people pursue their dreams and good organizations grow their influence.

What one event in a candidate’s past would pose the biggest problem in a campaign?
Getting caught in a lie, big or small, can ruin the trust a candidate has with the voters.

If you could be in any other line of work, what would it be?
Summer golf pro and winter hunting guide.

Negative campaigning — good or bad?
I’ve come a long way on this subject since spending two rounds managing Hostettler races in Indiana’s “Bloody 8th”. Perhaps I’m getting soft, but today I believe that voters are hungry for substance and less political bashing. Nonetheless, negative campaigning is still necessary and effective but the best consultants are the ones you can take the negative out of negative campaigning.

Where is your happy place?
Assembly Hall at Indiana University.

What is your favorite restaurant to meet clients?
South Bend Chocolate Factory on the circle in downtown Indianapolis.

What campaign (past, present or future) would you most like to be a part of?
Jeff Crank for President (candidate for Congress in CO-5) or Amanda Banks (my wife) for Mayor of Columbia City, Indiana, our hometown, population 6,000.

What is the ideal number of clients to have at one time?
7

What firm/individual who does your kind of work for the other party do you respect the most, and why?
Eric Sonderman of SE2 in Denver, Colorado. He is as kind and respectful as any consultant you’ll ever meet and he understands the creative art of communications. He has left a big foot print on Colorado politics and is liked and respected by everyone.

What is the first section of the newspaper you read?
I heard a pastor say once to never read the newspaper sitting down. I follow that advice and only skim the headlines. I receive my news from the Internet in its many forms, most importantly from blogs including one that I help run — www.HoosierAccess.com.

(YES!!! Thanks for the plug Jim!)

If you could only watch one news show, what would it be?
The Colbert Report.

We’re ending this feature with a question posed by the last interviewee. This is from Strother-Duffy-Strother’s Dane Strother: Where is the political consulting business ten years from now?
Bigger and better. Political consulting will be more focused and less “general”. There will be experts who control different technologies and consulting will be driven by who can best utilize those new tools. Hopefully political consulting will be more ethical too. Our industry could use a Better Business Bureau to keep track of dishonest and deceptive consultants.

Pose a question for the next interviewee.
What is your best advice to a new consultant who is starting out in this business?

Jon Elrod was video taped by some Democrats writing campaign letters (thank you notes, according to Elrod) while on the State House floor and then handing them to a Legislative employee to mail.

This is certainly a bad move by Elrod, but probably not near as horrible as it is being portrayed. The Indy Star article is interesting in that it is clear that Elrod did not break any ethics rules by writing the letters, but he caused the Legislative employee to violate personnel rules by having him perform “political” work while on the clock.

The timing of this special election certainly gives Elrod some difficulties in performing his elected duties and running for Congress, but he will have to do a better job of separating the efforts.

Of course, I’m not convinced that the Dems videotaping activities on the House floor is exactly ethical either.