In all of his TV ads in Indy so far Ellsworth has been running against Nancy Pelosi and Obama. I don’t think the ads even mention he’s a democrat. Hoosiers aren’t stupid though - Ellsworth is down about 20 points to Dan Coates right now and that spread will widen even more once Coates starts campaigning, which he hasn’t so far.
Yet, his voting record squares perfectly with Pelosi and Obama. The ad doesn't mention he's a democrat or that he's an incumbent. He does that for deception, since he knows his voting record sucks.
As to Hoosiers and being smart, some are, some aren't. I have two friends who are very smart people who voted for Obama. They have since changed their minds. However, what about the people in Lake County? A good number of them who voted in the 2008 election were dead at the time...they probably weren't up on current events, either. Even worse, a number of these dead people voted TWICE.