Free Republic

Several have asked how they can see my speech at SRLC tomorrow. The link below offers live video. I speak at approximately 2:00pm (ET). For those unable to watch live, the team will post the video later.

The Vigo County Young Republicans and Pachyderm Club of Vigo County will co-sponsor a debate of Republican candidates for Indiana’s 8th Congressional district April 21. The event will begin at 6 p.m. in the Oakley Auditorium on the Ivy Tech Community College—Wabash Valley Campus. Republican candidates Bud Bernitt, Larry Bucshon, Kristi Risk, Dan Stockton, and Steve Westell are all scheduled to appear. Eight candidates current seek that office on the GOP side.

Two of the three top Republican hopefuls for the U.S. Senate in Indiana continue to hold double-digit leads over Democratic Congressman Brad Ellsworth. Ellsworth supported President Obama’s health care plan in a state where opposition to the legislation is higher than it is nationally. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state finds former Congressman John Hostettler with a 50% to 32% lead over Ellsworth, a current House member who voted with most other Democrats on Sunday to pass the health care plan. The survey was taken last Wednesday and Thursday nights. Fifteen percent (15%) remain...

Another big get for Dems: Rep Brad Ellsworth, a former Yes vote who shared the concerns of the Stupak dozen and was intensely wooed by both sides, will vote Yes on the Senate bill, his spokesman confirms to me. “He’s a Yes,” Jonathan Kott, communications director for Ellsworth, just said by phone. “He will vote in favor of health care reform.” A press release detailing his rationale is forthcoming from his office.

HAMMOND, IND., March 10, 2010 – Rob Pastore, local businessman and Republican candidate for U.S. Congressional District 1-IN, will be holding a campaign kickoff rally this Saturday, March 13th, from Noon to 3:00 PM, at Highland Main Square Park. “My candidacy offers both Republicans and Democrats a clear choice to improve the future of Northwest Indiana,” Pastore said. “The voters of the 1st Congressional District are fed up with the massive decline in jobs and the lack of economic opportunity in Northwest Indiana. The current Administration and Democratic Congressman Pete Visclosky have failed to put people back to work, and...

Here in Indiana, several candidates for May's upcoming Republican primary are being challenged by party officials on the grounds that they are not entitled to run. One candidate who asked to remain anonymous says he is a long time registered Republican and is being challenged on the grounds that he voted in 2008’s Democratic primary. He states, “I am a long time listener to the Rush Limbaugh show, during the primary season he came up with the strategy he called “operation chaos.” Thinking it would be fun to participate in upsetting the Democrats election plans, I did, never thinking it...

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...

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Why I’m Leaving the Senate By EVAN BAYH February 20, 2010 BASEBALL may be our national pastime, but the age-old tradition of taking a swing at Congress is a sport with even deeper historical roots in the American experience. Since the founding of our country, citizens from Ben Franklin to David Letterman have made fun of their elected officials. Milton Berle famously joked: “You can lead a man to Congress, but you can’t make him think.” These days, though, the institutional inertia gripping Congress is no laughing matter. Challenges of historic import threaten America’s future. Action on the...

The guy who put populist politics on the charts with a song title "Pink Houses" John Mellencamp performed at the White House last week, as part of a program titled: "In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement." The Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame member sang the song "Jim Crow" with veteran folkie Joan Baez -- as well as a terrific song version of "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" -- on a night that also featured performances by Smokey Robinson, Natalie Cole, Yolanda Adams, the Five Blind Boys from Alabama and Bob Dylan,...

"This is a warning sign on so many levels, when people like Evan Bayh walk way rather than serve their country," said Steve McMahon, a former Senate staffer for the late Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. "The moderate Democrat is a vanishing breed," said McMahon, a Democratic strategist on Capitol Hill. "It is the moderates that make the difference between being in the majority and being in the minority, a problem for the Democrats." Former Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Rick Santorum said Bayh did what he himself should have done when faced with a similar situation in the 2006 mid-term...

Hoosier politics took an unexpected turn Monday night when Democratic Senate candidate Tamyra d’Ippolito accused the White House of conspiring with party officials to secretly draft Rep. Baron Hill to run against her. As the only other Democrat in the field, d’Ippolito became the presumptive front-runner for the Democratic nomination when Sen. Evan Bayh announced Monday that he would not seek re-election. Indiana Senate candidates must collect 4,500 signatures to appear on the ballot, including 500 from each of the state’s nine congressional districts. As of 9:30 p.m. Monday d’Ippolito told The Daily Caller she was 1,000 signatures short and...

A Bloomington, Ind., restaurant owner who had been running an obscure and uphill challenge against Sen. Evan Bayh for the Democratic nomination claimed Monday that she’s just 1,000 signatures short of qualifying for the ballot. In an interview with POLITICO, Tamyra D'Ippolito said that after news broke Monday morning that Bayh was retiring, her campaign contacted Democratic officials in Indiana to request they help her get the needed signatures by noon Tuesday — when they must be verified by the state’s 92 country registrars. It would be something close to a nightmare scenario for Democrats: were D’Ippolito to qualify for...

If she gets 4500 signatures, she's on the ballot. And she's a neophyte the state party doesn't like and apparently a leftish ideologue, so she can't win. Beautiful.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said today he's "confident" Democrats will hold on to Sen. Evan Bayh's (D-Ind.) seat in 2010. Reid made the comments in a statement on Bayh's retirement: "Evan Bayh has been a strong voice for Indiana for many years and I thank him for his service. I respect his decision to step aside and look forward to continuing working with him to create jobs, strengthen the economy and keep our country safe throughout the remainder of his term. I am also confident that the efforts of Senator Bayh along with those of the DSCC will...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama suffered another setback Monday as a fifth Democratic senator, centrist heavyweight Evan Bayh, decided not to run for re-election in dismay at the bitter political climate. Obama, who reportedly tried to talk Bayh out of retiring, faces a looming Republican resurgence and risks watching strong majorities in Congress crumble in November mid-term elections, and with them his ambitious reform agenda. With his tearful wife and two sons at his side, Bayh, 54, expressed disenchantment with excessive partisanship in the Congress as he announced his decision at a press conference in the state capital...

A Bloomington, Ind., restaurant owner who had been running an obscure and uphill challenge against Sen. Evan Bayh for the Democratic nomination claimed Monday that she’s just 1,000 signatures short of qualifying for the ballot. In an interview with POLITICO, Tamyra D'Ippolito said that after news broke Monday morning that Bayh was retiring, her campaign contacted Democratic officials in Indiana to request they help her get the needed signatures by noon Tuesday — when they must be verified by the state’s 92 country registrars. It would be something close to a nightmare scenario for Democrats: were D’Ippolito to qualify for...

Back in 1988, Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., decided not to seek another term rather than take on popular ex-Gov. Evan Byah. With Coats out, Bayh won easily. Coats recently threw his hat into the ring for 2010, setting the stage for the Hoosier State showdown 12 years later. But now Bayh, in a shocker, says he won’t run. The Bayh-Coats angst-no-action drama resembles that of boxing, where top fighters often fail to face each other

Millions of Americans long to tell their bosses “take this job and shove it.” Hardly any have the power and money to do so, especially in these recessionary times. Sen. Evan Bayh (D) of Indiana, however, is the exception. His stunning retirement from the Senate is essentially a loud and emphatic “screw you” to President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. For months now, Bayh has been screaming at the top of his voice that the party needs to reorient toward a more popular, centrist agenda -- one that emphasizes jobs and fiscal responsibility over health care and cap...

Evan Bayh 2:00p.m. news conference talking about why he will not seek re-election to U.S. Senate from Indiana

WASHINGTON—Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, a centrist Democrat who represents a Republican-leaning state, has decided to retire rather than seek re-election in November, two senior Democratic Party officials said, in a blow to his party. Mr. Bayh, 54 years old, is the latest in a series of lawmakers who have said they wouldn't run for re-election this year, as polls show rising voter discontent with both parties and Congress in the face of continued high unemployment and a mounting federal deficit. "To put it in the words most Hoosiers can understand: I love working for the people of Indiana, I love...