A Citizen's Guide to Indiana

Masson's Blog

IN-08: Ellsworth leads by 15 points in recent poll

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According to a recent poll commissioned by the Evansville Courier Press, John Hostettler trails challenger Brad Ellsworth by 15%. More surprising than the margin is the low, low support Hostettler apparently has — The poll showed Ellsworth with 47.4% support — decent, but not a huge number. However, the poll showed Hostettler with 31.8%. This is among respondents who were comprised of 32.7% Republicans, 33.5% Democrats, and the remainder unaffiliated with either major party.

This poll smells like an outlier merely because of the huge margin and large percentage of undecideds. Guess we’ll wait and see.

IN-09: Swiftboaters for Sodrel sue for their right to robo-call Hoosiers

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TPM Muckraker continues to follow the story of the “Economic Freedom Fund” — an organization bankrolled by Bob Perry, the man who bankrolled the smears on John Kerry’s military record. This organization is going to bat for Mike Sodrel by paying for “FreeEats.com Inc.” to robocall Hoosiers with attacks on Baron Hill. By robocall, I mean use computers to dial Hoosier phones and play recorded messages to anyone unfortunate enough to pick up the phone. Trouble is, this practice is illegal.

The General Assembly, recognizing that Hoosiers don’t want to have the phone ringing at all hours only to have a computer play them a recording, adopted IC 24-5-14 which prohibits playing such a recording unless an actual person has obtained the consent of the person picking up the phone before playing the recording. Attorney General Steve Carter, appropriately, took these folks to court to put an end to their law breaking.

On the contrary, however, Sodrel’s supporters apparently feel that the First Amendment protects their God given right to have computers ring your phone and tie up your line playing you recorded messages. So, they’ve gone to federal court asking it to nullify the state law. So much for strict construction and states’ rights, I guess.

One Million Ways to Die (or putting the risks of terrorism in perspective)

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Thanks to Jason for pointing out this Wired News story comparing the relative risks faced by Americans.

S E V E R E
Driving off the road: 254,419
Falling: 146,542
Accidental poisoning: 140,327
H I G H
Dying from work: 59,730
Walking down the street: 52,000.
Accidentally drowning: 38,302
E L E V A T E D
Killed by the flu: 19,415
Dying from a hernia: 16,742
G U A R D E D
Accidental firing of a gun: 8,536
Electrocution: 5,171
L O W
Being shot by law enforcement: 3,949
Terrorism: 3147
Carbon monoxide in products: 1,554

IN-09: TPM Muckraker investigates Swiftboaters for Sodrel

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Readers may recall that the Indiana Attorney General is suing the “Electronic Freedom Fund” which appears to be Swiftboat moneyman Bob Perry’s latest vehicle for attacking Democrats. The Indiana AG’s interest has to do with illegal robocalls attacking Mike Sodrel’s challenger, Baron Hill. TPM Muckraker does some digging to determine who does Perry’s dirtiest dirty work; in other words, who does the dialing of the Electronic Freedom Fund’s push polls. The short answer is, “they don’t want you to know.”

IN-04: Max Cleland to campaign for David Sanders

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Apparently Max Cleland will be in Indianapolis on September 25th to support the campaign of David Sanders against incumbent Steve Buyer. Cleland is a big draw, particularly for an ex-Senator from Georgia, because of the way in which he was defeated in his 2002 Senate race by Saxby Chambliss. Despite having left an arm and two legs in Viet Nam, he was attacked during the 2002 campaign by an ad featuring pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden and questioning Cleland’s patriotism.

According to the Sanders’ campaign press release, Senator Cleland’s speech will begin at 9:30AM at the Adam’s Mark Hotel. He will also join Dr. Sanders for a rally at 11:30AM at Veterans Memorial Park in Brownsburg.

IN-03: Islamo-terror-fascists

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Reverent & Free came across a pro-Souder letter to the editor in the Fort Wayne News Sentinel (most of the post has to do with a pro-Hayhurst letter). The letter states:

“If you want to protect America and defeat Islamo-terror-fascists, vote Souder.”

Craig at R&F notes how perfect “Islamo-terror-fascists” is. It fairly screams the need of some citizens for an enemy. Just give us someone to fear and hate, then make us feel safe from those people. The description of the enemy lets us know that this isn’t reasoned fear we’re talking about. Reasoned fear would do a better job of articulating that certain groups of Islamic militants hate Americans and/or their government, and find it useful to use terrorist tactics against us. But, reasoned fear would also do a better job of putting the actual threat into perspective and, therefore, not be terribly useful as an electoral tool since one’s chances of being hurt or injured in a terrorist attack are miniscule in comparison to one’s chances of suffering a similar fate in an automobile accident.

No, the fear of “Islamo-terror-fascists” is an irrational fear. It conjures up legions of amorphous boogie-men comprised of our worst nightmares. The only thing worse, perhaps, would be “Commie Islamo-terror-fascists.” But, throwing the Communists into the mix is probably over the top. After all, Souder only needs a win, not a landslide. Besides, we probably don’t want to anger the Communist Chinese lest they decide to stop funding Souder’s & Co.’s deficit spending.

IN-08: Washington Post blog entry

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Jim VandeHei has a blog post on the Washington Post blog entitled “Unorthodox Campaigner May Be In Trouble.” He mentions a WISH-TV poll showing Ellsworth leading 44 to 40, noting it’s always news when an incumbent who has been in office 12 years is that far below 50% this late in an election cycle. Hostettler’s sister & spokeswoman said that seemed reasonable and fair.

[A new poll] conducted by the Garin Hart Yang Research Group — shows Ellsworth leading 51-34, based on the views of 401 likely voters. The poll was conducted Sept. 18 and 19. That same polling firm found Ellsworth up by four points in June.

However, Hostettler’s vaunted get out the vote capabilities in District churches is expected to keep him in the race. Vanderhei suggests that “Hostettler’s biggest problem might be the unpopularity of the GOP in Indiana, where Gov. Mitch Daniels has ticked off a good chunk of the state by privatizing toll roads and other unpopular moves.”

I will be genuinely tickled if Gov. Daniels’ tin ear and ham-fisted governing style in Indianapolis, particularly with respect to Daylight Saving Time, brings gridlock to DC.

Yeah, I take too many online quizzes

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You Are 55% Left Brained, 45% Right Brained


The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning.

Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others.

If you’re left brained, you are likely good at math and logic.

Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet.

The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility.

Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way.

If you’re right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art.

Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

More press

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Call me vain, but I’m always a little tickled when I make it into the Journal Gazette’s Best of the Blogs editorial segment. They highlight this September 16, 2006 post, quoting the following:

The Associated Press has a story telling of a poll indicating that privatizing the Toll Road and adopting Daylight Saving Time are unpopular with Hoosiers.  …

I sort of hold these issues to a double standard. I think the popularity, or lack thereof, with respect to DST is more significant than the lack of support for Toll Road privatization. DST seems like the kind of issue perfectly suited to a straight up popularity contest. How we synchronize our clock to the sun is basically a lifestyle choice with few complex policy questions involved. …

The lack of public support for the Toll Road would concern me less if it were good public policy. But, it’s not. That’s just my opinion, of course, but I have my reasons. I’ve read the lease and thought it through a bit. At the end of the day, I think it’s bad public policy to increase taxes solely on the motorists of northern Indiana to pay for roads in the rest of the state. I could still be wrong, obviously, but we have no idea how much information the poll respondents had on this issue and, therefore, no idea how informed their opinions are.