Word on the street is that there will be a rally on the Capitol in DC this Saturday at noon.  Details are scarce at the moment; but I plan on being there.  If you have any way of getting to DC this weekend, do it!

9-12-2009

This is a last ditch effort for our Representatives to hear that we do not want this bill to pass.  I am talking to you Rep. Baron (this is my town hall and you won’t tell me how to run my congressional office) Hill (IN-9), Rep. Joe (I love my Union supporters and Sen. Evan Bayh) Donnelly (IN-2) and Rep. Brad (I have stayed silent on the issue and look weak in my own party) Ellsworth (IN-8)!  We know you voted for the Slaughter rule and I hope you all are packing your bags because you are done come election time!

I am talking to you Donnelly, Ellsworth and Baron!

I will update with more info as I receive it.

Well I am shocked…shocked I tell ya! Looks like three of our Indiana Delegation voted in favor of the Slaughter House rule! Rep. Baron (this is my town hall and you won’t tell me how to run my congressional office) Hill (IN-9), Rep. Joe (I love my Union supporters and Sen. Evan Bayh) Donnelly (IN-2) and Rep. Brad (I have stayed silent on the issue and look weak in my own party) Ellsworth (IN-8).

You can read the full story here on who voted for this!

Here is the full list!

Jason Altmire, Pennsylvania.
• John Barrow, Georgia.
• John Boccieri, Ohio.
• Allen Boyd, Florida.
• Leonard Boswell, Iowa.
• Joe Donnelly, Indiana.
• Brad Ellsworth, Indiana.
• Baron Hill, Indiana.
• Marcy Kaptur, Ohio.
• Dan Maffei, New York.
• Jim Marshall, Georgia.
• Jim Matheson, Utah.
• Michael McMahon, New York.
• Betsy Markey, Colorado.
• Patrick Murphy, Pennsylvania.
• Earl Pomeroy, North Dakota.
• Nick Rahall, West Virginia.
• Joe Sestak, Pennsylvania.
• Carol Shea Porter, New Hampshire.
• Ike Skelton, Missouri.
• Zach Space, Ohio.
• John Spratt, South Carolina.
• Charlie Wilson, Ohio.

You guys might as well start packing your D.C. offices and condos right now. Because I have a feeling you won’t have a job in November!

Even Congressman Burton agrees with that last statement!

Do your duty.  Call Congressmen Donnelly, Ellsworth and Hill today and every day until a vote is held and tell them to …

Joe Donnelly

• Washington – (202) 225-3915
• South Bend – (574) 288-2780
• Logansport – (574)-753-2671
• LaPorte -(219) 326-6808 ext. 2414 (Wednesday only)

Brad Ellsworth

• Washington – (202) 225-4636 or 1-866-567-0227
• Evansville – (812) 465-6484
• Terre Haute – (812) 232-0523

Baron Hill

• Washington – (202) 225-5315
• Jeffersonville – (812) 288-3999 or 1-866-440-1321
• Bloomington – (812) 336-3000

From our friends at Hoosier Patriots and Americans for Properity.

We need your help in an all-out push to stop the current health care fiasco and the dozens of corrupt special-interest deals these bills contain.

WE MUST STOP IT IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOW!

Noon, March 18th rally.

Here’s what we ask you to do:

Help us target three Indiana Congressmen. E-mail and rally with all your friends and neighbors! Call and fax the Congressmen below on March 17-18. Urge them to vote “NO” on the Health Care bill, then, most importantly, show up and rally at their district offices.

Please help even if you are not in their District!

RALLY AT THESE DISTRICT OFFICES AT 12 Noon (EST) MARCH 18TH
Wear your t-shirts! Take your signs! We need to change their votes!

Joe Donnelly, Dist. 2, Phone: 202-225-3915 FAX: 202-225-6798

• 207 West Colfax Avenue, South Bend–300 East Broadway Suite #102, Logansport
• 813 Lincolnway, Suite 100, La Porte–100 East Michigan Boulevard, Michigan City
• 100 South Union Street, Kokomo

Brad Ellsworth, Dist. 8, Phone: 202-225-4636 FAX: 202-225-3284

• 101 NW Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Room 124, Evansville
• 901 Wabash Avenue, Suite 140, Terre Haute

Baron Hill, Dist. 9, Phone: 202-225-5315 FAX: 202-226-6866

• 279 Quartermaster Court, Jeffersonville
• 320 West 8 Street, Suite 114, Bloomington

Today, Governor Mitch Daniels wrote a letter to Indiana House members to reject Health Care legislation. See the Governor gets it and understands what it will do to our country and state!

I am proud of my congressman, Rep. Dan Burton (IN-5) for rejecting this as well as Rep. Mike Pence (IN-6), Rep. Mark Souder (IN-3) and Rep. Steve Buyer (IN-4). It is the others that need to listen and take heed! Reps. Carson, Hill, Ellsworth and Donnelly are you listening????

Here is the letter that Gov. Daniels sent to the members of the Indiana Delegation

Read more after the leap

Obama’s welcome to hold fundraisers for Baron, of course, so long as they’re far from southern Indiana.

But as for coming here to campaign? Not so much.

I guess we can’t look forward to Obama coming to Bloomington for some campaign rally later this year.

It’s just as well. There’s a lot to suggest (in recent elections in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Virginia) that such campaign rallies don’t help the Democratic candidate any.

Politico:

Moderate House Democrats facing potentially difficult re-elections this fall have a message for President Barack Obama: Don’t call us, we’ll call you.

Interviews with nearly a dozen congressional Democrats on the ballot this year reveal a decided lack of enthusiasm for having Obama come to their districts to campaign for them—the most basic gauge of a president’s popularity.

Some cite the president’s surely busy schedule. Others point to a practice of not bringing in national politicians to appear on their behalf. While these members aren’t necessarily attempting to distance themselves from the administration, there is nevertheless a noticeable reluctance to embrace him by a certain class of incumbent now that the president’s approval rating has fallen to a new low in the latest Gallup survey, 46 percent.

Asked directly whether he would invite the president, [North Dakota Congressman Earl] Pomeroy replied: “If the president of the United States wants to come to North Dakota, he’s always invited.”

Rep. Baron Hill (D-Ind.) offered the same generic, if unenthusiastic, welcome of Obama to southern Indiana.

“If he wants to come to my district, he’s welcome to come,” said Hill, who could face off against former GOP Rep. Mike Sodrel. “I don’t plan on asking him to come because I know he’s a busy guy.”

Hill did, though, point out that he had already had a fundraiser with Obama.

But when reminded it was in Indianapolis and not his district, he only said, “Uh huh.”

There’s an eager invitation if I’ve ever seen one.

Sounds like Baron Hill would rather get defeated in a congressional election than wager his political career on a statewide loss.  He’s saving that for 2012.

Via Politico:

Indiana Rep. Baron Hill (D) announced Saturday that he will not run for the Senate in 2010.

The decision by Hill, a five-term congressman from Seymour, leaves Rep. Brad Ellsworth the strong favorite to become the Democratic nominee to succeed retiring Sen. Evan Bayh.

Hill praised Bayh in statement released Saturday, and said he intended to remain in Congress.

“Evan has been a devoted public servant to Hoosiers and a fellow companion in pushing for Congress to curb its reckless spending,” said Hill. “And while I agree with him that the partisanship in Washington is alarming, to reference my athletic past – I opt to stay in the game and continue to serve as an independent voice for my Southern Indiana constituents.”

Hill also signaled his support for Ellsworth, a two-term House member and former Vanderburgh County sheriff.

“I believe my friend and colleague, Congressman Brad Ellsworth, is the right man to fulfill the task of ensuring a Democrat is elected to succeed Senator Bayh,” said Hill.

So at this point the Democrats have heavy favorite Brad Ellsworth, Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott and potentially (really keeping my fingers crossed on this one) Hoosier rocker John “Cougar” Mellencamp.  McDermott sounds like the Jill Long Thompson of the bunch.  And since the Democrats choice won’t be made by the voters, the State Party will get the candidate they want, not the one the voters want.  And there really is no chance Johnny Cougar gets involved.

(Read more after the leap)

Baron says that he might run, but that he wants to have “conversations” first.

From the Indy Star:

U.S. Rep. Baron Hill said today that he isn’t ruling out a run for the U.S. Senate now that Evan Bayh has said he won’t seek re-election and will retire at the end of his term.

Hill — in his first public event since Bayh’s announcement a week ago — said he needed time to speak with the senator and others about the possibility before making a final decision.

“I’m open to the idea,” said Hill, D-9th District. “It doesn’t mean that I’m going to do it.”

Because Bayh announced his retirement just one day before a crucial filing deadline, no Democratic candidates qualified for the ballot. That means the Indiana Democratic Party’s 32-member central committee will choose a nominee.

Hill had been out of the country visiting troops on a military-sponsored trip until this weekend and had been unavailable to comment about the Senate seat.

While he was away, U.S. Rep. Brad Ellsworth, D-8th District, announced he would be a candidate for the Democratic nomination. Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott and Gary School Board member Darren Washington also told party officials they intended to run.

Hill said he is scheduled to speak with Bayh today and wanted to talk with others as well.

“Let me have those conversations first and then we’ll see where this goes,” Hill said.

Let’s think about this for a moment. Evan Bayh not only timed his departure to come at the last possible moment so as to prevent a genuine primary challenge, but he also timed it to occur while Baron was out of the country visiting troops overseas and would be unable to react for an entire week.

While Baron was in the Middle East, Brad Ellsworth jumped into the race head first, arranging a replacement to run in his spot and dropping his Congressional candidacy entirely.

(Read more after the leap)

Earlier this month, Baron Hill cheered the passage of PAYGO rules by Congress.

What Baron didn’t mention was that the approval of these so-called “Pay As You GO” rules was accompanied by a record increase in the Federal debt ceiling to accomodate the vast new deficits created by the spending that has been advocated by Obama and voted for by Baron Hill.

This hypocrisy was not lost on ABC News:

President Obama used his weekly address to highlight the “pay-as-you-go” rule he signed into law Friday – within the bill which also raises federal debt limit to $14.3 trillion — a number which Obama does not mention once during his address.

Such interesting contradictions, such as voting simultaneously to skyrocket the debt ceiling while passing phony deficit reduction fig leaves, reminds me of the entertaining confession of Saint Augustine: “Lord make me good, but not yet.”

Of course, the problem with PAYGO is that there is no becoming good later, because PAYGO is a scam. It’s a hoax devised by budget-busting Blue Dog Democrats to try and hoodwink their constituents into believing that they actually care about the deficits they are voting to create.

What Baron can count on is that local newspapers, such as the News & Tribune, will parrot his press releases praising PAYGO without ever taking the time to investigate the facts about it. For example, the News & Tribune never mentioned that the PAYGO bill itself contained a provision that blew the roof off of the Federal debt ceiling.

On the subject of PAYGO, Citizens Against Government Waste notes just a few of its many problems and the hypocritical contradictions of so-called “Blue Dogs” like Baron Hill:

(Read more after the leap)

From the Courier-Journal:

U.S. Rep. Baron Hill, D-9th District, is among those that some Democrats are listing as possible candidates for U.S. Senate now that Evan Bayh has said he won’t seek re-election.

Hill, a former state lawmaker and businessman from Seymour, has served in the U.S. House for 10 of the past 12 years. He was defeated once – in 2004 – by Republican Mike Sodrel, who is vying for the chance to run against Hill again this year.

Hill also ran for U.S. Senate in 1990 when he lost to Republican Dan Coats, who is expected to enter this year’s race as well.

“I’m sure Baron Hill will be among several Democrats who will take a look at the race,” said Mike Jones, the Democrats’ 9th District chairman and a member of the party’s state central committee.

Jones said U.S. Reps Joe Donnelly, D-2nd District, and Brad Ellsworth, D-8th District, would also be possible candidates.

“But that creates more questions about their seats,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any question that the Democrats have several people that would have the capacity to wage a campaign for U.S. Senate. But there are other question marks about what happens next.”

Hill is out of the country on a week-long trip military-hosted trip. At the request of the military and because of security concerns, Hill’s office said it cannot disclose the trip itinerary.

Hill’s spokeswoman, Katie Moreau, said Monday that she has no way of reaching the congressman.

“We honestly never spoke about this before he left,” she said.

Unless a Democrat can collect the 4,500 signatures necessary to get on the primary ballot by Tuesday – something political observers said would be nearly impossible – the Indiana Democratic Party’s central committee will fill the vacancy on the ballot after the primary.

Former state Democratic chairman Kip Tew said Monday that he expects Hill will be among the candidates the committee will consider.

But he also named former state attorney general Joe Hogsett, former Indianapolis mayor Bart Peterson, Evansville Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel and Ellsworth as possibilities.

“We have a pretty good bench on our side,” Tew said.

House Speaker Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, said Monday he is not interested in running.

“I’d rather support someone else,” he said.

But Bauer said he was too stunned by the news that Bayh wouldn’t run to speculate about a replacement.

Baron picked a bad time to go overseas for a photo op, given that he’s out of contact for a week and Brad Ellsworth is already itching to run.

There’s also the tiny matter of who will get nominated for Congress by the Democrats if either Hill or Ellsworth (or Donnelly, for that matter) chooses to run. Baron Hill faces primary opponents. Ellsworth and Donnelly (currently) do not. Insignificant though they may be, the mere presence on the ballot of Hill’s opponents prevents the Democrats from backfilling the ballot vacancy with a serious candidate unless another (serious) candidate files by Friday at noon. That is not the case in the 2nd or the 8th.

(Read more after the leap)

Our gift came a day late, but it seems that Evan Bayh read our breakup letter and decided to leave the relationship before we ended it in November.  I can’t say that I am surprised by the announcement.  While Bayh claims that “[e]ven in the current challenging environment, I am confident in my prospects for re-election,” the people standing outside his offices with proverbial torches and pitchforks have told a different story.  I believe his support for the health care bill in Congress would have ensured a loss in November.

I take two things from Senator Bayh’s announcement today:

1.  I believe this is a way for Senator Bayh to save face from a potential walloping in November and hopefully keep his name out there for a future cabinet appointment, a spot on a future Democratic ticket for vice-president or a potential Presidential run of his own.

2. My other thought on the motivation for Bayh’s abrupt retirement is also tied into his future political aspirations.  Without an election to win in November, Senator Bayh will not have an electorate at home to appease and he will be free to vote for a potential health care bill without fearing for his seat.   He knows that the health care bill in Congress is not popular in Indiana, but voting for it would be a good quality for a future run for higher office on the Democrat ticket.

I make no attempt to know what is in a person’s heart, but judging by his past actions and propensity toward doing what is right for himself rather than the people of Indiana, I believe there is more to this story than meets the eye.  Keep the pressure on Bayh, Lugar and all the other Senators to vote against this health care bill.  I assure you that Harry Reid (who might also be making an exit from the Senate come November) would love to make use of Bayh no longer having an election to win in Indiana in an attempt to pass this health care bill.

And now that the Democrat side of the ticket is open, there are already names floating for the Democrat Nomination:

(Read more after the leap)

From the Herald Times:

Congressman Baron Hill recently departed on a week-long trip to visit troops overseas. At the request of the military and because of security concerns, Hill cannot disclose his itinerary.

However, the trip will entail meeting with troops and organizations involved with reconstruction efforts, and receiving extensive briefings on ongoing military operations.

“I believe trips like this one are an essential part of my job as a member of Congress,” Hill said in a prepared statement. “In order to make well-informed decisions regarding the military and our commitments overseas, I need to see what’s going on first-hand, as well as speak to our soldiers who are serving on the front lines.”

This trip should make for an interesting contrast to the other trips Baron has taken with military aircraft to places like Scotland, Australia, Guam, and Vietnam.