Indiana AG Todd Rokita Photo: State of Indiana Todd Rokita never should have been Attorney General of Indiana.  But, here we are, Todd Rokita is Indiana's problem because every time he gets the national spotlight, he proves to be a colossal embarrassment to our state and to the Republican Party. Today's Todd Rokita embarrassment story is that he's investigating the doctor who performed the abortion on a 10-year-old girl who was raped in Ohio and who then became pregnant. The procedure could not be performed in Ohio due to the law there, so she was brought to Indiana where, fol ..read more

  Mitch Daniels Photo: Purdue University Purdue President Mitch Daniels has been in the news a lot lately.  First came the somewhat surprising news that he would be retiring from his post as President of Purdue University. Then, nearly immediately, the speculation began about what the former Indiana Governor and Federal Budget Director under George W. Bush might do in his retirement. Hint: the speculation is that he's not moving to the Villages in Florida. Politico's Adam Wren, one of Indiana's finest political reporters, has reported that friends of Daniels say he is "fasci ..read more

 Today was the first day in a LONG time that a state party convention happened in person and I did not attend.  I can honestly say that I didn't miss it all that much. While I enjoyed the day and meeting all the candidates, my personal priorities have changed, and the current nature of politics has taken a lot of fun out of it. In case you might be bumping into my blog for the first time, I founded the Indy Democrat Blog a long time ago in 2008. I wrote daily for a long time, including weekends. That was back when my fervor for party politics was at its peak. Slowly, I began to see h ..read more

I am hearing rumblings that Joe Donnelly wants to be your Senator again. I plead with the Indiana Democratic Party not to do this again. Yeah, I know that Joe once won a statewide race against a truly off-kilter Republican who wrote his own ending weeks before the General Election, but Joe Donnelly won't beat Todd Young or Mike Braun or whoever he runs against next for whatever statewide office he wants. He doesn't have a shot. He connected himself with Donald Trump in 2018. That's not what a Democrat does. In my view, the 2022 election cycle for U.S. Senate is an uphill battle. Running the sa ..read more

Eric Holcomb Photo courtesy State of Indiana There was a time early on in the 2020 campaign where I actually considered voting for Eric Holcomb. I know, it's hard to believe, but I was impressed with how Governor Holcomb handled the early days of the pandemic. His steady and principled leadership carried Hoosiers through the early part of this nightmare, and he stuck to his guns early when challenged by those to his far right on pandemic policy. As the days and months went on, other factors proved that my early feelings of support for the Governor were misplaced. The Governor opened t ..read more

The Indiana General Assembly strikes again! Rep. Murray Smyth (R-Stone Head) has introduced an amendment to a bill that will make it a criminal act to enforce mask mandates including local business mandates. Smyth added the Amendment to SB4121. "I don't believe people should be forced to wear masks. It's a violation of their Fourth Amendment rights," said Smyth. "Those face diapers are a form of government oppression." In past years, Smyth has tried to make the bald eagle Indiana's state bird and ban the word "French Fries" from menus across the state. It's also amazing that Smyth continues to ..read more

The United States Constitution died today in Washington, D.C. Donald Trump and his loyalists killed it. The founding document took a fatal blow today when 43 of Donald Trump's nearest and dearest friends voted to acquit him of inciting the January 6 riots at the Capitol. That's 43 Senators who raised their hands and took an oath to defend the United States Constitution who chose to look the other way while Donald Trump was allowed to trample it. Well, I guess Donald Trump did something that even the strongest militaries have yet to do. He beat the Constitution. For all the high and mighty tal ..read more

Senator Stereotypical Modern Republican We all knew that Mike Braun was an empty shirt. He was "stereotypical modern Republican" in central casting. Today, it was confirmed that he is "stereotypical modern Republican" as he has chosen to join the certain-to-be fruitless and patriotically-bankrupt challenge of the clear victory of Joe Biden over Donald Trump.  To quote Barack Obama, "Let me be clear," Joe Biden won the election on November 3. Months of challenges haven't changed the election results, and whatever Lin Wood and the rest of the so-called "Dream Team" of Trump lacke ..read more

John Ruckelshaus and Fady Qaddoura There are a lot of negative and misleading ads running this campaign cycle.  One candidate's ad, however, is particularly cruel and misleading in its claim. WTHR's Verify team took a look at an ad that John Ruckelshaus is running against his opponent Fady Qaddoura. Ruckelshaus has made a career of being a state senator that truly has resisted some of the crazy his caucus often peddles and is widely respected by people of all political spectrums. That's why many were shocked by the ad Ruckelshaus continues to run against Qaddoura. The ad has all ..read more

District 35 Candidates: Mike Young (R) and Pete Cowden (D) Campaign Photos One of the bellwether races to show national folks how Indiana might swing might just be Indiana's 35th Senate District race between long long long longtime incumbent Mike Young and first-time candidate and combat veteran Pete Cowden. The 35th District encompasses a large part of Southwestern Marion County in Wayne and Decatur Townships and then shoots out west into Hendricks County picking up Plainfield and other communities nearby. It's very clearly gerrymandered to protect Young, and he's electorally done q ..read more