Reports from the the Indiana Daily Student and Brian Howey suggest that Becky Skillman is alluding to a potential run for Governor in 2012.

SKILLMAN ‘LEANING TOWARD RUNNING’ FOR GOVERNOR: The Indiana Lt. Governor has more constitutional and statutory duties than most other state number-twos in the nation (Miller & Ayari, Indiana Daily Student). After spending the past five years addressing responsibilities as Lt. Governor, Republican Becky Skillman said Tuesday she might run for Governor in 2012.

Hoosier Access can confirm that Skillman is preparing a run for Governor. Sources very close to the Lieutenant Governor tell Hoosier Access that Skillman is “preparing for a run”.

Preparing for a run sounds a lot more like running for an office than might be running.

The Hoosier political rumor mill has been churning without taking any time off for a break the last few weeks.  From the “Will Mike Pence challenge Evan Bayh?” weekend to Todd Rokita apparently being asked to consider a run, now it’s “Who will replace Steve Buyer?”.  With just over two weeks left before the filing deadline, Buyer leaves a giant void on the ballot after announcing he won’t seek re-election this year that many are either legitimately thinking about filling or are just rumored to be thinking about filling.

And since the Primary election on May 4th in the 4th District is so Republican, the primary basically represents the general election.  Whoever wins the primary faces off against Democrat retread David Sanders and will the 4th Districts first freshman congressman since Steve Buyer ran and won in 1992 when he defeated incumbent Jim Jontz.

So who will run in Indiana’s Fourth Congressional District?  Below is a list of names I’ve heard (emphasize heard).  Just because they are listed here doesn’t mean they are actually running.  But the Rumor Mill is churning and this is what I’m hearing.

(Read more after the leap)

I just know this post will cause some ulcers, but I was struck with a though when catching up on Indianapolis news this morning.   Here are the posts that started me off:   Rokita’s Rather Ridiculous Redistricting Proposal and Rethinking Redistricting the website produced by Secretary of State Rokita.

After a cursory overview, I have to say in general I agree with Todd’s suggestions.   I might have favored private money being used in the research and marketing, as the Kernan Shephard folks did.   I would find the “illegalality” of thinking about politics to be too strong, since last I checked we are all still granted the right to think.

But all in all, each Indiana Senate seat should feature two House seats in the same geographic bounds.  All in all, population should be the guide and not voter vault.  All in all, the existing county lines are a much better boundary than gerrymandered messes to give one side or the other a couple extra votes.

Sorry Scott, I felt your article didn’t give the proposal its fair shake.  Perhaps a problem with Todd, or his possible run for Governor?  This effort on the surface looks surprisingly like a Daniels move, bringing the best of common sense and transparency and putting it on the table.    To be frank, I’m still for Becky as Governor, if she wants it … but this kind of forward thinking on Todd’s part shows he’s just the man for Lugar’s Senate seat we need, if only that resignation were forthcoming.

I got a very interesting letter in the mail on Tuesday evening.

It was a fundraising letter from Becky Skillman. I’ve never gotten one from her before (which made it interesting in and of itself) and the letterhead was also something new:

It was the second page that I found to be particularly noteworthy, above and beyond the usual flood of fundraising junk mail that arrives in my mail box each day from every candidate and committee under the sun.

It’s typed up, since the scanner wouldn’t work and the camera on my phone wouldn’t do it justice:

(Read more after the leap)

And he reminds us why, yet again, in yesterday’s Indianapolis Star:

When asked whether he was disappointed that fellow Republicans in the Senate passed the budget, the governor said: “I’m baffled.”

Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman, who presided over the Senate during the vote, called the decision “surreal.”

“I thought it might be a good idea to walk away from it,” Skillman said.

Long disagreed.

“The lieutenant governor is wrong about that,” he said. “Our responsibility is to vote on a budget, and we did that.”

There was no reason for the Senate to vote on that budget, given that the House represented the more problematic chamber and was at that moment sending it down in flames.

No reason at all. None.

(Read more after the leap)

Live blogging a Lincoln Day dinner?  I know, I know, but after today’s events in the 9th District, tonight’s dinner should be interesting.  Hoosier Access correspondent Mark Warner will be there to bring us all the action live!

Tonight’s speaker is Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman. The action starts at 7:00.

Podcast: Play in new window

(Below is the text of Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman’s inaugural speech from earlier today.)

I am proud and humbled to be here today, to stand again with Mitch Daniels as his partner, and accept the trust of the people of Indiana for another four years. It’s no secret that I love Indiana. It’s my home, down to the very last blade of grass, and I am fiercely proud of where we are, and who we are as Hoosiers. We’re not the largest, nor the most powerful state in the union. We don’t necessarily have the loudest voices or the most recognizable faces. But we are a force to be reckoned with, and we have made our faces known around the world. We are the strong and the stalwart. We are the rough and the ready.

Our neighbors have lost sight of land. While we wish no ill will on our neighboring states, their choices have tossed them into a sea of red. They’re waving for a lifeline, for some reason to hope in the future again.

But Hoosiers are standing firmly on a bedrock of black – through strong fiscal governance, responsibility and good stewardship. Our choices have given us a strong position to weather the storm around us. We’re getting wet, but we’re not drowning!

I pledge to you to do everything in my power to keep Indiana on solid ground. The Governor and I know that is our first responsibility. And we intend, not only to see Indiana keep its economic footing, but to gain ground as well.

We’re faced with a new year, with new challenges and new beginnings. I know Hoosiers are ready. And we have one thing on our side that the rest of the country is looking for. We have the strength of character and spirit of ingenuity that have already made us rich beyond our means.

I have found great inspiration in the strength of our people. Growing up in rural Indiana, I’ve seen that strength in my family – my parents and sister and extended family, many of them here today. I’ve seen that strength in my husband, Steve, and our son, Aaron. And I’ve seen it in countless Hoosiers. It’s a willingness to give even when they lack, to help even when they feel weak, and to move forward even when they are more comfortable staying put.

And the only way to move, is forward.

(Read the rest after the leap)

During a recent bout of insomnia, I decided to have some fun with the WHOIS database, a nifty listing of who owns a given domain name and when they bought it (among other things). Because of the importance of the internet in modern politics, and the cheap cost of registering a domain name, politicians and campaigns frequently register their domain names far in advance of any official campaign declaration.

So, being bored and unable to sleep, I started punching in combinations based around potential gubernatorial candidates for the 2012 race. A study, if you will, in the advance web positioning of potential gubernatorial candidates.

For each candidate, I tried a variety of similar combinations:

joesmith.com
smithforgovernor.com
joesmithforgovernor.com
joesmithforindiana.com
smith2012.com
joesmith2012.com
hoosiersforjoe.com
hoosiersforsmith.com

It’s an interesting exercise, to be sure. It might not catch everyone (Mitch Daniels’ campaign website was mymanmitch.com, for example, which you wouldn’t find with any of the above searches), but I figured that the results should be interesting, so I set out searching.

Because this study was an exercise in boredom rather than some exhaustive academic research, I tried to limit myself to the first eight or nine people for each party that came to mind when running the search.

(Read more after the leap)

This is priceless, especially since the left in this state so readily dismiss Becky Skillman.  She may be one of the most underrated elected officials in this state, but we at Hoosier Access have a very high opinion of the LG and do not underestimate her abilities.

“Jill Long Thompson, Emily’s List and the feminist movement must see the handwriting on the wall.”

WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 /Christian Newswire/ — Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund President Marjorie Dannenfelser commented on the results of the race for Indiana Governor and Lieutenant Governor:

“Jill Long Thompson, Emily’s List and the feminist movement must see the handwriting on the wall. Becky Skillman is the new model of woman’s political leadership — centered on her obligations to nation, community and family. The old worn-out model, the ‘me’ centered standard staged by women four decades ago remains unfulfilled. Indiana women now know abortion can’t be the center of a sustained feminist movement.”

Since its founding, the nonpartisan Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund has helped elect 75 pro-life candidates to the House, seven to the Senate, and seven to other statewide offices across the country. The Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund endorsed Governor Mitch Daniels and Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman earlier this year.

The Susan B. Anthony List is a nationwide network of Americans, over 150,000 residing in all 50 states, dedicated to mobilizing, advancing, and representing pro-life women in politics. Its connected Candidate Fund increases the percentage of pro-life women in the political process.

www.sba-list.org

In my letter to the editor last week, I addressed the silly claim by the Indiana Daily Student that Mitch Daniels is not “running on a platform of serious change or upheaval.” The last four years have been all about change. But there is another aspect to that editorial that deserves further examination.

While I believe Sarah Palin was an excellent choice by Senator McCain and strengthened the Republican ticket, there have been legitimate questions raised about her experience. The same concerns about experience cannot be legitimately raised regarding Becky Skillman, a former president of the Association of Indiana Counties and a state senator for 12 years. In fact, not only does Skillman’s experience in state government dwarf that of Jill Long Thomspon, she had more experience that Mitch Daniels did in 2004.

What if Daniels had chosen Lawrence County state representative Brent Steele to be his running mate instead of Skillman, a Lawrence County state senator? Would the IDS have compared Steele to Palin? I doubt it. That is why I referred to the attack on Skillman as “borderline misogynistic”.

(Read more after the leap)

Published in the Indiana Daily Student, October 30, 2008

To the Editor:

In your editorial of October 29, you write “neither Jill Long Thompson nor (Mitch) Daniels is running on a platform of serious change or upheaval.”

Where has the IDS Editorial Board been for the last four years? Governor Daniels has pushed through a number of major public policy initiatives, including the “Major Moves” plan to upgrade infrastructure throughout the state, Daylight Savings Time, leasing the Toll Road (which provided a huge sum of money for infrastructure improvements), privatizing aid to the poor, major property tax reform, and a balanced budget. Students should pay attention to property taxes because property taxes are a cost of doing business for landlords and are therefore reflected in your rent.

(Read more after the leap)