Give Joe Donnelly and Pete Visclosky credit.  These two have four more cojones than Brad Ellsworth or Baron Hill combined.  Joe and Pete have done what Baron Hill and Brad Ellsworth can’t stomach doing, so far, during the August recess.  And that’s face the constituents on their turf and not in one of these one on one “limited time offer” office visits or some weekend morning phone call or worse yet, just running away back to DC before the August recess is even over.

What about Congressman Andre Carson?  Rumor has it, he held an “invitation only” town hall.  But a review of Carson’s website doesn’t yet show anything coming up that’s open to the constituents of the 7th district.

So, what of our GOP congressmen?   Mike Pence has already held three town halls this month.  Dan Burton and Steve Buyer will be holding their own joint invitation only event, but each will be holding town halls which will be open to the public.  Congressman Burton will be holding two, while Buyer and Souder will each be holding one.

See this is what real congressmen do.  They meet with their constituents.  They don’t “duck and cover” to avoid confrontation.

So why are Brad Ellsworth and Baron Hill running scared and refusing to meet their constituents on public terms?

Schedule of upcoming town halls (of the actual meeting with constituents variety and not the hind behind a phone variety):

(Schedules after the leap)

Dan Dumezich has decided against running for Senate.

Via Howey:

DUMEZICH WON’T RUN: Former state representative Dan Dumezich confirmed that he will not run for the U,S. Senate (Howey Politics Indiana). Asked if he was running today, Dumezich e-mailed a one-word answer: “Nope.” That leaves Don Bates Jr. and State Sen. Marlin Stutzman in the Republican field to take on the two-term senator with a $12 million warchest.

Could a run in the first congressional district be a possibility instead?  Dumezich is from northwest Indiana, is a good fundraiser and could take full advantage of Pete Visclosky’s more recent ethical lapses.  But if he’s passing on running against Bayh, I’m not holding my breath for a run against Visclosky.

*UPDATE*

Dumezich still in? Howey has updated his original post with this:

Former state representative Dan Dumezich told Howey Politics Indiana early this afternoon that he is indeed considering a Senate challenge to U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh and said the incumbent has a “fundamental misunderstanding of what the word ‘conflict’ means.”Dumezich

That was in reference to an Indianapolis Star article on Sunday that reported Sen. Bayh’s wife – attorney Susan Bayh – made more than $2 million between 2006 and 2008 serving on a number of corporate heatlh care boards. Her appointments were made after Bayh was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1998. Dumezich called that “inexcusable” because the senator is “living off what she is making.”

I’ll start the conversation here, and then round robin to some of our other great conservative sites in the state.

Dan Dumezich for Congressional District One?

I believe that Dan Dumezich should re-think his options and run instead against Pete Visclosky for the first district seat.

• Dan can raise money, both inside and outside the district
• Dan has a strong and well known name in the district and has recently put old turf wars with current Lake County GOP chair behind them
• Pete is as weak as he’s going to be, with PMA lobbying money scandal and having to remove himself from position of earmark power
• The voters in the first district are getting pretty sick of calls for increased taxes to bail out Gary and the northern Lake County communities.
• If Dan wins, we pick up a seat no one thought would ever go R.  If he loses by 4-5 points, he is the logical successor to Senator Lugar who will I’m sure soon retire.

I’ll let you the readers tell me I’m all wet, that’s fine, since that’s the primary goal of this site and other similar ones.   But, before you cry ‘impossible’ think carefully about the possibilities.

Indiana Rep. Visclosky – Fed Grand Jury
originally on Porter County Indiana Politics

As has been reported on the Times and the Post-Tribune and Politico this morning …

“U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky’s Congressional office, campaign committees and certain employees have been sent grand jury subpoenas requesting documents relating to The PMA Group, the congressman said Friday.

Visclosky said he was surprised by the subpoenas, which he said were issued earlier this month and earlier this week, adding that he has conducted himself “with the highest degree of integrity.” The Merrillville Democrat said he would “make sure every request is fully complied with under the law.” (Via the Times of Northwest Indiana)

I have been saying for quite some time that Rep. Visclosky may be vulnerable if his ties to this lobbying group show that he directed business from the federal government directly to contractors who gave money to this firm. Remember that investigators may also want him to open up and talk, giving them testimony to go after Rep. Murtha (D-PA)

The 1st District in Indiana has been long considered a stronghold for Democrats, with Republicans running very weak opponents in the past. Mr. Visclosky has also amassed a warchest of considerable size. If a strong Republican with the ability to raise millions from individual donors would jump into this race (can you say Dan Dumezich?) 2010 could be just the year for this kind of upset.

Of Indiana’s nine Congressmen, can you guess the four with perfect attendance so far this year?

The answer is after the leap.