Free Republic

In Indiana's Republican primary for U.S. Senate, conservative insurgents got more votes than the GOP establishment. There was only one small problem: the party establishment had just one candidate in the race while the conservatives split their votes between four.

With half of the precincts reporting in the GOP Senate primary race, former Indiana senator Dan Coats is preparing to celebrate. Coats shot to an early lead and is holding strong while his opponents Marlin Stutzman and John Hostettler are splitting the rest of the votes. The Coats campaign has a small ballroom at the downtown Indianapolis Marriott hotel booked until midnight. Coats has already practiced his victory speech on the podium at the hotel. But the Republican Senate hopeful still has to beat four other candidates in Tuesday's primary election. State legislator Marlin Stutzman is said to have the...

Indiana has not enjoyed such a vigorous debate among conservatives in many years. In the lead-up to the Republican primary on Tuesday, Dan Coats, Marlin Stutzman, Don Bates Jr., John Hostettler, and Richard Behney have given Indiana voters a healthy civics lesson with their arguments over who should be the GOP contender in November for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Democrat Evan Bayh. Because of Bayh’s last-minute decision in February not to run for re-election, state Democratic Party officials had to scramble to find a candidate for next fall’s ballot and officially will select U.S. Rep. Brad Ellsworth...

Former Rep. John Hostettler (R-Ind.) is running for the Senate much like he ran for the House: heavy on the social-issue conservatism and light -- very light -- on campaign funds. Hostettler raised just $37,000 in the first quarter of 2010, according a filing in the Senate public records office, and began April with just $9,700. His first-quarter receipts amounted to less than a tenth of what front-running Republican Dan Coats raised and 1/17th of what presumptive Democratic nominee Brad Ellsworth raised. Unlike the way he handled his House campaigns, Hostettler is now accepting contributions from political action committees. But...

A notable buzz surrounded youthful Indiana State Sen. Marlin Stutzman as he was escorted around this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) by activist Donna Weisner. “Back in Indiana, they say he’s our Scott Brown,” she said proudly. Stutzman supporters elatedly boasted news of a Rasmussen poll that gives Stutzman a ten-point lead over the likely Democrat nominee for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Evan Bayh. All this is a stunning development for the young farmer and businessman who only four years ago was the youngest member of the Indiana legislature. In Washington power circles former Sen. Dan...

EVANSVILLE — John Hostettler has been wearing the tread off his tires crisscrossing the state to get signatures for his U.S. Senate campaign, and he can see no good reason to step aside for former Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind. Hostettler, a Republican who represented the 8th District in Congress for 12 years until his defeat in 2006, has watched over the past month as national and state Republicans tried to recruit first Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., and now Coats to challenge Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., this year. Coats' statement Wednesday that he had authorized supporters to begin gathering signatures to...

Despite a late recruitment push from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Indiana Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) announced he won't be challenging Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) this year, and will instead seek re-election to the House. Republicans have grown increasingly bullish on their chances at winning Bayh's Indiana Senate seat in light of the worsening political environment for Democrats, but don't have a strong candidate willing to take him on — at least not yet. Pence led Bayh in a Rasmussen poll released yesterday, and Bayh polled under 50 percent against two other possible Republican challengers. Here's Pence's letter: Open Letter...

Former Republican Congresssman John Hostettler announced today he's launching a bid to challenge Indiana Senator Evan Bayh next year. Hostettler represented Indiana's 8th Congressional district for six terms from 1994 to 2006, eventually losing in a landslide to Democrat Brad Ellsworth.

INDIANAPOLIS, July 13 (UPI) -- The 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq was motivated by revenge for an assassination attempt former President George H.W. Bush, a former GOP member of Congress says. John Hostettler of Indiana also says the invasion was intended to aid Israel. Hostettler -- one of six House Republicans to vote against the 2002 resolution authorizing use of force in Iraq -- makes the claims in a new, self-published book, "Nothing for the Nation: Who Got What Out of Iraq," the Indianapolis Star reported Sunday. "It cannot be debated that toppling Saddam was accomplished by means of a...

Immigration wasn’t a winning platform The Issue: Illegal immigration proves to be less of an issue for the American public than many in Congress had thought. Our Opinion: It is time for Congress to devise a reasonable immigration-reform measure that meets the need for a more secure border and recognizes the importance of foreign nationals to our econ-omy. In a campaign miscalculation that proved fatal to several candi-dates, incumbents and challengers — most of them Republicans — found that the illegal-immigration issue wasn’t nearly as important to the American public as they had thought. Actually, illegal immigration trailed several issues...

Rep. John Hostettler trails his Democratic challenger, Brad Ellsworth, by 15 percentage points in a new poll commissioned by the Evansville Courier & Press. The poll of 603 registered voters in Indiana's 8th District shows Ellsworth with 47.4 percent of the vote compared with Hostettler's 31.8 percent. Undecided voters number 16.6 percent, and 4.1 percent refused to answer. Of those polled, 32.7 percent identified themselves as Republicans and a fractionally higher number, 33.5 percent, identified themselves as Democrats. The remainder were not affiliated with either major party. The poll, conducted Sept. 6-21 by Indiana State University's Sociology Research Lab, has...

EL PASO — Republican congressmen said today they would call for an investigation into why two U.S. Border Patrol agents were prosecuted then convicted this year of shooting a drug-smuggling suspect and trying to cover it up. They were in El Paso for a House Judiciary Committee field hearing on immigration, one of about a dozen such hearings around the country this month. Indiana U.S. Rep. John Hostettler, a member of the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims, pledged to take up the case of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean. They were convicted in March on several...

WASHINGTON (BP)--Indiana’s John Hostettler is trying for the fifth consecutive Congress to prevent the American Civil Liberties Union from receiving government funds when it succeeds at legal challenges to public expressions of religion. This year, the Republican representative has more hope than before thanks to the American Legion. The country’s largest veterans organization, with about three million members, has aggressively thrown its influence behind Hostettler’s bill, and the persistent congressman is encouraged at his proposal’s prospects. Hostettler’s measure, the Public Expression of Religion Act (PERA), H.R. 2679, is designed to close what he considers a loophole in federal law that...

Hostettler: Illegal immigrants hurting US Stemming the tide of illegal immigration across U.S. borders is important to national security and causes a loss of jobs for American workers, U.S. Rep. John Hostettler said Monday during a town hall meeting in World Gospel Church in Terre Haute. "Illegal immigration hurts American workers. From 2000 to 2004, over half a million American jobs were lost. In 2004, there were more than half a million fewer native-born Americans employed than in 2000," said Hostettler, R-Blairsville, who is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee for Immigration, Border Security and Claims. "It was...

Under federal law, an attorney or an organization of attorneys that wins a civil rights case in a federal court can charge legal fees and collect damages from the losing defendant in the case. This includes cases of so-called “religious discrimination” under the “establishment” clause of our Constitution. This means that when the ACLU brings an action against a city or town that has allowed a crèche or an opening prayer or anything else that some disaffected atheist feels offends him, and wins the case, not only does the country lose another symbol of our heritage, but the city or...

Writing in Roll Call, Stuart Rothenberg gives us his top ten list of most endangered House incumbents. All but one are Republicans. Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN) Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-PA) Rep. Rob Simmons (R-CT) Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT) Rep. Mike Sodrel (R-IN) Rep. Clay Shaw (R-FL) Rep. Melissa Bean (D-IL) He says it was a tough list to compile. "Many of the incumbents on this list have proven their political mettle before, and in normal circumstances, they wouldn’t be in all that much trouble. Others find themselves in...

Public Expression of Religion Act of 2005 (Introduced in House) HR 2679 IH 109th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 2679 To amend the Revised Statutes of the United States to eliminate the chilling effect on the constitutionally protected expression of religion by State and local officials that results from the threat that potential litigants may seek damages and attorney's fees. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES May 26, 2005 Mr. HOSTETTLER (for himself, Mr. WAMP, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. JENKINS, Mr. PAUL, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. SODREL, Mr. WELDON of Florida, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. PITTS, Mr. INGLIS of South Carolina, Mr....

WASHINGTON - In an overwhelming bipartisan action, Congress approved a $51.8 billion hurricane relief package Thursday, but 8th District Rep. John Hostettler was one of the few no votes. The Senate passed the measure 97-0 and the House vote was 410-11. The bill, now headed to President Bush, includes $23.2 billion for housing aid and cash to storm victims. State and local governments are in line for $7.7 billion in reimbursement, and the measure includes $2,000 debit cards for families to use. Bush pledged to make it "easy and simple as possible" for uncounted, uprooted storm victims to collect food...

109th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 3409 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the withholding of income and social security taxes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 22, 2005 Mr. HOSTETTLER (for himself, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mrs. CUBIN, Mr. CANNON, Mr. TANCREDO, Mr. PENCE, Mr. FLAKE, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia, and Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means -------------------------------------------- A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the...

www.gunowners.orgJun 2005 House Passes Extreme Penalties For Some Who Use Guns In Self-Defense -- Bill could also make your hunting party a "criminal street gang" Gun Owners of America 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102 Springfield, VA 22151 (703)321-8585 Tuesday, June 28, 2005 Let's assume that you and your family are on your way home from church. You have a gun in the glove compartment that is there for self-protection. After driving within 1,000 feet of a school (which is almost unavoidable), you stop by the grocery store to pick up a few items for lunch. As you are exiting your...