This first year of his Presidency looks like it has taken a toll on him.

Indiana GOP Chairman Murray Clark issued the following statement regarding the upcoming vote on the health care bill in the Senate:

INDIANAPOLIS–Indiana Republican Party Chairman Murray Clark issued the following statement on Saturday after learning that Democrat leaders included special provisions for Nebraska in order to gain Sen. Ben Nelson’s vote on their nearly $1 trillion health care bill.  This news means that Sen. Evan Bayh’s vote could be the 60th vote needed for cloture to move the bill forward.  Chairman Clark urged him to stand with Hoosiers in opposing the bill:

“As the Democrats continue to cut deals to secure votes for a health care bill that Americans have soundly rejected, Sen. Bayh’s vote is increasingly more crucial. Will Sen. Bayh stand with Hoosiers and vote against this bill, or will he join with his Democrat colleagues to do enormous damage to our economy and to health care in America?”

One might think we have a bigger problems right now.

Former Indiana Congressman Chris Chocola has a great write up on Human Events about the colossal fail that was President Obama’s “jobs summit”.

It was a foregone conclusion that the nation ignored the White House’s “Jobs Summit” last Thursday. Even the presidents’ allies acknowledged the afternoon confab of friendly CEOs, labor bosses, and economists was a publicity stunt. And so it was.

But if you watched cable news at all that day, you probably saw live interviews of administration officials repeating a new and not unwelcome talking point from the Obama White House. Both the vice president and president made the point in their opening remarks.

Biden: “[The government] can help create the conditions that make for a stronger economy, make a stronger economy possible. But it’s you, all of you in this audience here, who are in the position to make it a reality.”

Obama: “While I believe that government has a critical role in creating the conditions for economic growth, ultimately true economic recovery is only going to come from the private sector.”

A pro-growth, economic conservative could hardly wish for a more market-oriented, downright supply-side perspective, especially from the authors of the stimulus, cap-and-trade, ObamaCare, and the Detroit takeovers. The White House’s most disciplined spokesmen left it there. Alas, though Messrs. Biden and Obama are many things, disciplined spokesman they are not.

Congressman Chocola now runs the Club for Growth which is a fiscal watchdog group in Washington D.C. Read more of Congressman Chocola’s write up at Human Events, here.

(H/T – Red State)

According to WRTV-6, Indiana is now out of the running for a Harley Davidson plant.

Harley-Davidson has announced that a Kentucky location is the only one it is considering if it relocates its York, Pa., motorcycle plant. The company earlier said that it was also looking at locations near its Kansas City, Mo., plant; in Shelbyville, Ind.; and in Murfreesboro, Tenn. The York Dispatch reported that a company statement said that Harley-Davidson representatives met with Kentucky officials this week. Harley-Davidson spokesman Bob Klein said the company is also still considering the possibility of staying in York

One wonders if the entire focus of this was to get money from PA Governor “Fast” Eddie Rendell for refurbishing the York, PA Harley Davidson plant.

On October 1^st Ron Arnold will add the line “Former Campaign Manager, Mike Pence for Congress” to his resume.  That’s because he and 3 other long-time Pence campaign staffers are leaving the Congressman’s campaign and setting up their own shop at Ron Arnold and Associates.  Joining Arnold is Jeff Howe, the campaign’s Technical Director, and Mikah Wilson and Jerry Alexander, both well known operatives in the 6^th Congressional District.

Since first winning election in 2000, Pence’s team has worked hard with him to make his re-election effort one of the best in the state.  It helps that the district they work in is Republican leaning, but it does take work to keep it leaning in that direction.  As a group the team has built a brand-name around running campaigns that focus on Hoosier values, conservative principles, and a common-sense message.  Building on the lessons learned from the earliest Mike Pence campaigns, they have steered clear of the highly negative campaign styles that have come to characterize other races around the state and nation.

What would persuade a team of competent individuals to leave relatively safe jobs working for a well known rising star on the state and national stage?  It is rumored that an announcement will come out next week that they have been retained to manage the US Senate campaign of Don Bates, Jr.  Bates, from Richmond, is said to have a lot of the communications and personal qualities that Pence has, though without the prior campaign experience.  One thing is for sure, if this team ends up running his campaign, he had to be serious about winning to get them on board in the first place, and we should expect to see some interesting things shape up in the Senate race.

Pence has not endorsed any candidates in the Senate race right now and if his past record is any indication, he probably won’t endorse anyone until the general election.

If our Governor has anything to do with it, we will. Nothing like seeing a shiny new Hog come off the assembly line, eh Guv?

The IndyStar reports on HD’s desire to relocate a plant currently located in York, PA to either Kentucky, Tennessee, or “other undisclosed states”. Is Indiana one of those “undisclosed states”?

Indiana has a large skilled manufacturing workforce, many of which are auto workers who lost their jobs in the economic downturn in the domestic auto industry. Indiana also boasts a legion of dedicated motorcyclists, including the Governor.

This article in the Milwaukee Business Journal (Milwaukee of course the home of HD corporate) sheds a little more light on the subject:

Harley Davidson Inc. is considering sites in Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana to locate a factory should the motorcycle manufacturer opt to close its York, Pa., facility.

Management of Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson Inc. visited a site in Shelbyville, Ind., on Wednesday, company spokesman Bob Klein said. Earlier in the week, Harley-Davidson scouted sites in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Shelbyville, Ky., he said.

The cities are among four finalists being considered as alternatives to keeping production in York, Pa., where Harley-Davidson has about 2,500 employees.

Klein declined to name the other city being considered because Harley-Davidson management hasn’t made an official visit. He also declined to say specifically how Harley-Davidson determined which cities it would consider at alternate locations.

“We have a number of criteria that we are looking at,” he said. “Because it’s an ongoing process, we’ve decided not provide any specifics.”

Could it be HD is seeing the increasing tax-and-spend policies of states like Democrat led Pennsylvania and realize this could not be good for business? Pennsylvania is offering up $15 million to pay for upgrades to their York plant, and yet HD is weighing its options instead of jumping at the money. Must be some serious strings attached to the money. It’ll be interesting to find out the 4th location under consideration by HD. So far Tennessee is a Right to Work state, Kentucky and Indiana are not. Would having right to work laws in place tip the scales in those states’ favor?

Remember that stimulus package the president said we desperately needed?  The same stimulus package that was to “create or save” three to four millions jobs?  Six months later, we’ve lost 2.1 million jobs.  I guess that’s change you can believe in, huh?

While much of the political banter and even flat out name calling yesterday surrounded the Indiana budget, much less fanfare went with an important bill that was passed:

IT INCENTIVES: Lawmakers sent the governor legislation designed to help Indiana compete for large-scale information technology investments.

Senate Bill 448, sponsored by Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, would allow counties and municipalities to waive property taxes on computers, fiber optic cable and other costly high-tech equipment. To qualify, a firm would have to invest at least $10 million and agree to pay an average wage at least 25 percent greater the average wage for the county.

The Northwest Indiana Forum lobbied for the proposal.

This completed a well coordinated effort by the Indiana Economic Development Association, The Northwest Indiana Forum, NIPSCO, and research by Cender and Company to allow local communities the option to exempt personal property taxes in an effort to recruit data centers or similar new employers. Let’s hope this “tax reduction” effort will show quick results and remind everyone that we need jobs, and stimulus doesn’t have to be in the form of pork.

(This is a very interesting think piece on South Bend that was forwarded to me. I found it worth posting because the guy really does his homework. It was originally posted to Townhall.com – Josh)

“We are all watching the Titanic steaming full speed ahead right before

that diamond-hard iceberg tears off all the steel rivets from her skin.

If you’re not aghast, you’re just not paying attention.”

James Lewis, American Thinker, April 5, 2009

South Bend was once an auto-making city.  At Studebaker, costs remained out of line, causing the company to collapse after a long and proud history dating back over a hundred years before its ultimate demise.   Much of the blame was placed on higher labor costs and, indirectly, on labor-management relations.  While Studebaker’s failure was a sad – and most devastating – end to a glorious chapter in South Bend history, the pride of a people who had front row seats to the development of the Automotive Industry in America should not be forgotten.  Thankfully, local visionaries knew that this history should be preserved in the form of the Studebaker Museum.  The past has much to teach us, even a half century later.

Those who tour the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, Indiana walk away with the knowledge that Indiana, not Detroit, was the cradle of the Automotive Industry in America.  And it was here, in South Bend, Indiana that the first large-scale, American automotive company would fail. Democrat President John F. Kennedy did not feel led to bail out a failing Studebaker in the early 1960s. U.S. Manufacturing in general, and the U.S. auto-makers in particular, are still based on WWII notions of how the world is ordered.  Domestic automakers never evolved.  They remain a relic of the post-WWII business model.  Our domestic automotive industry has been in forty years of progressive decline.   We aren’t talking about a couple of bad business quarters – we are talking decades.

(Read more after the leap)

Democrats on the national level are proving over and over that they can’t do simple math especially when it comes to jobs.  Remember Nancy Pelosi’s Armageddon type numbers  in terms of monthly job losses nationally if the Stimulus Bill had not been passed?  If not, let me remind you.

Well, Lord Dark Helmet, (aka, God’s gift to Republicans, Crazy Uncle Joe and Vice President) thought it would be wise to criticize Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s comments from Tuesday’s Republican response to the president that Republicans and Democrats view the economy.  Except, surprise surprise, not only did he get his exagerated numbers wrong about job loss in Louisiana, people are actually gaining jobs in Louisiana.  Much to Vice President LDH’s surprise I’m sure.  (Sorta like the time he was surprised to forget the name of Recovery.gov.  That stellar footage is below the fold.)

Via KLSA News 12:

“But what I don’t understand from Governor Jindal is what would he do?,” asks Joe Biden while on the Early Show.

And That rhetorical question to Governor Jindal on the CBS morning show, was followed with this. “in Louisiana there’s 400 people a day losing their jobs, what’s he doing?” asks Biden.

But that claim is wrong, if you look at the numbers from the Louisiana Workforce Commission. “In December, Louisiana was the only state in the nation besides the District of Columbia, according to the national press release that added employment over the month,” says Patty Granier with the Louisiana Workforce Commission. According to her, not only is Louisiana not losing jobs. “The state gained 3,700 jobs for the seasonally adjusted employment,” Granier said of the most recent figures.

(Read more after the leap)

When word first surfaced that the $87 billion for Medicaid assistance to the states in the latest bailout proposal would apply to family planning initiatives, with Speaker Pelosi defending the measure as being one that will “reduce costs”, I mentioned to someone that I thought that sounded very Malthusian.  Focusing on attempts to hold down the population during an economic downturn is a very shortsighted thing to do.

Before I had the chance to fully opine about this, the Wall Street Journal unveiled an excellent op-ed on the matter entitled “Speaker Nancy Malthus“.  Here is an excerpt:

Ms. Pelosi’s remarks ignore the importance of human capital, which is the ultimate resource. Fewer babies would move the U.S. in the demographic direction of Europe and Asia. On the Continent, birth rates already are effectively zero, and economists are predicting labor shortages in the years ahead. In Japan, where the population is aging very fast, workers are now encouraged to go home early to procreate. Japan is projected to lose 21% of its population by 2050.

In addition to the overall problem posed by shrinking populations, we should remember that the Social Security system is on an unsustainable path partly because of mismanagment and partly because of a decreasing number of workers still working for every one retiree collecting Social Security benefits.  Since the inception of Social Security we have seen a trend towards a smaller ratio of workers to beneficiaries and unless we act now to reform the system, this shrinking gap will combine with the hard fiscal demands of the system and one day cause Social Security to collapse.