In a clear victory for the Tea Party movement. Rand Paul decidedly won the republican primary in Kentucky yesterday. His opponent in the fall will be Jack Conway. This will be an interesting race!

From the Hoosier Pundit Blog:

There are only nine days left until Hoosier Republicans will decide who will get to stomp Brad the Beautiful flat in November and occupy the seat being vacated by Birch’s Boy.

National Review has a nice outside perspective on the Senate primary written by Jim Geraghty available here.

Coats, while picking up an endorsement from Focus on the Family’s James Dobson and an encore of his earlier endorsement by Mike Pence, continues to draw fire for his votes for liberal judges and gun control. Coats still hasn’t disclosed the lobbying records he said he would make public months ago.

Marlin Stutzman has gotten some endorsements of his own, but is drawing criticism for his taking of farm subsidies and his votes for tax increases and bad budgets in the Indiana House.

As a side anecdote, I first met Marlin Stutzman back last October. He was travelling across southern Indiana in his campaign bus and stopped in Corydon. He asked about Paul Robertson (the local Democratic state representative).

I promptly rattled off a series of recent liberal votes Robertson had made and mentioned how those votes were hurting Harrison County. The budget that bailed out the Indianapolis stadium authority at the expense of education funding. A bad education budget funding formula that hurts local schools and is now forcing the laying off of teachers. And–of course–the vote for the largest tax hike on businesses in Indiana history. Plus several other votes that I can’t remember at the moment.

At the mention of some of those votes by Robertson, Marlin shifted uneasily in his seat; he had voted for some of the same things that I was criticizing my own state representative for supporting. It was momentarily awkward.

Anyway, John Hostettler, meanwhile, has gotten the endorsement of Ron Paul and is getting 400+ person crowds at his town hall meetings around the state and Richard Behney has decided that barely a week before the election is a good time to attack the leadership of the pro-life movement in Indiana.

Given the barbs that have flown back and forth in the past week or so, no wonder Mitch Daniels wants everybody to play nice. The Governor can just do an impersonation of Rodney King: “Why can’t we all just get along?”

It wouldn’t be Republican politics in Indiana if there wasn’t blood on the floor.

Most interesting of all, in my opinion are reports coming in from various parts of the state about the very low turnout for absentee and early voting. Midterms always have lower turnout than presidential elections, and midterm turnout is always similarly much less than presidential turnout. And that’s normal presidential turnout, not the abnormal presidential turnout we saw in 2008.

If I had to guess, I would wager that low turnout in the Senate primary harms Dan Coats, who is relying on his name ID to give him pull with low-information primary voters. The lower turnout benefits candidates like John Hostettler. If you can turn out 400 plus people to see you at a town hall meeting in northwestern Indiana on a weekday, you can get lots of people to the polls to vote for you.

If I had to guess, I would say that Hostettler stands to reap significant advantage from his grassroots organization in a low-turnout environment. Marlin Stutzman, who has gained considerable wind at his back with endorsements from national conservatives in the past week, also sees an advantage in this final stretch. It’s not clear to me that there’s currently any upside for Don Bates or Richard Behney.

Dan Coats doesn’t get much new wind out of trotting out Mike Pence’s endorsement for an encore, but Coats may ultimately be the beneficiary of conservatives being split between the four other candidates (and particularly being split between Stutzman and Hostettler).

A Letter from John Hostettler

Dear Friends,

As we approach primary election day, I need your help.

In fact, I need it in one hour.

Throughout this campaign season I have worked to bring my message of a federal government limited to its constitutional constraints directly to you – the people. I have been encouraged to see that at candidate forums hosted by the Republican Party, independent groups, local Tea Party groups, 912, We The People, and by other organizations – along with my own Town Hall Meetings – this message has resonated.

We’ve gotten support from those on the fence and even made converts as my message and record are exactly what folks all over Indiana are looking for.  My fellow Hoosiers tell me time and again they want a Senator who will go to Washington, DC and not fall in with the herd but who will lead, independently, and help guide the federal government back to that which was envisioned by the Founders.

But as I said,  I need help from you- help to get our message to the wider Republican electorate that will go to the polls on May 4th and nominate the next Senator from the great state of Indiana. Without your financial support – NOW – that message won’t get out to the necessary number of primary voters who are looking for reliable conservative leadership in Washington, DC and simply haven’t heard my name yet.

I need you to tell everyone you know to give what they can to our campaign to take back our government for the people. Tell it on Facebook, Twitterand even telephone and telegraph if you have to.

But do what you have to in order to get your freedom-loving friends to contribute.

At midnight, I need for you and your friends to go to my campaign website and contribute whatever you can. Our goal is to raise enough money in one day to send a message to the powers in Washington that we will choose our candidate.

To do this we need to raise enough in 24 hoursto buy radio ads across the state. As you may imagine that comes with a large price tag.

I have placed my trust in you, now I need you to help me bring our message of liberty and prosperity to everyone else in Indiana.

Please pass this message on. Let’s sprint to the finish.

Just go to JohnHostettler.comto get started.

Thank you and God bless you,

John Hostettler

From Indy’s Painfully Objective Political Analysis Blog:

Monday, April 19, 2010

Two Coats Still Can’t Cover Dan’s Record

On April 9, I ventured into the lion’s den as a commentator for the GOP Roundtable Discussion with all five Republican candidates for U.S. Senate –Don Bates, Jr., Richard Behney, Dan Coats, John Hostettler, and Marlin Stutzman – hosted by Indiana Barrister blogger and WXNT-1430 AM talk show host Abdul Hakim-Shabazz.

All of the commentators at the debate – myself, Josh Gillespie from Hoosier Access, Thomas Cook from Blue Indiana, and Mike O’Brien of WRTV’s Capitol Watch Blog – believed that to gain ground on presumptive favorite, Dan Coats, the other four would have to attack. None did.

This might be, in part, because Coats started the debate complimenting everyone for being so conservative and wanting what’s best for America. This is a mandatory and ingenious ploy for any candidate who leads the field, and it is often followed with, “America doesn’t want us engaging in negative attacks against each other because that doesn’t solve problems.” Attacking somebody after they’ve sucked up to you? That’s your grandmother telling you she likes your Sunday suit, and you respond with, “Your hat looks stupid.”

Consequently, the “debate” was more like a boring Fox reality show called “The Amazing Chase,” with the winner being determined by who could cram the most anti-Obama comments in one sixty-second spiel.

Anybody who doesn’t believe in “the visual” aspect of politics should note how Coats’ frontrunner status was amplified by the fact he was at the center of the table because the candidates were alphabetized, and he was the only guy who took his jacket off, as if to say, “I can go casual and still own these guys.”

For my money, Don Bates, Jr. did the best job of stoking the populist fire. He called for a 5% congressional pay cut and came the closest to “going negative” by saying that he had none of the decades worth of government service at the table. Had I been a GOP voter without a lot of knowledge about the candidates, he would have been my guy.

Self-professed tea party activist, Richard Behney, who earned a rebuke from Indiana GOP Party Chair, Murray Clark, after Behney said he’d be “cleaning his guns” if the election in November didn’t go well, did little to improve his image.

Behney repeatedly responded to whether he would support proposal x, y, or z by saying “over my dead body,” and he packed his remarks with gun-toting metaphors. On immigration, for example, he said that if somebody comes in the front door of his home and can speak English, the two might have a good conversation. But a person who sneaks in the back door “might get shot.”

To his credit, Behney was the only candidate who stated that he supported repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Behney noted that he served in the military with gays and said he even knew some gay people from his time in the “music business.” Unfortunately, that one courageous position couldn’t alter my belief that Behney’s campaign slogan should be “The Fringe Unhinged.” He’s the embodiment of what makes people scared about Tea Partiers, and the fact Coats wouldn’t say anything against his violent rhetoric tells you all you need to know about the influence the GOP believes Tea Partiers wield.

Coats offered no chastisement, even though Behney also waved his hand right in front of Coats’ face while talking so often, I expected a melee to break out. (Behney might want to learn to stop “taking over” other people’s personal space before he starts in on federal government takeovers).

For his part, State Senator Marlin Stutzman wanted us to know he grew up on a farm. He said it so much, I had a post-traumatic stress flashback to the Jill Long-Thompson’s campaign. (Did any of you know she has a PhD?)

To steal a question Abdul has been asking, why do we still mythologize a profession that is almost exclusively agribusiness now? My parents live in Hendricks County, and the farmers around them all have tractors with air conditioning, CD players, and DVD players. This isn’t Thomas Jefferson with a team of oxen, okay? Sure, they might get up at 5:00 a.m., but so does a guy working the early shift at a factory. And if anyone thinks being raised on a farm automatically means you’re wholesome, check teenage pregnancy rates in rural communities or watch the Dukes of Hazzard.

I expected John Hostettler to at least “backdoor insult” Coats, but he said nothing. He didn’t say anything in the follow-up appearances either, which is curious given that Hostettler had already put up a Youtube ad attacking Coats for voting for Ruth Bader-Ginsburg’s confirmation, the Brady Bill, and the assault weapons ban.

Undoubtedly because of Hostettler’s ad, Coats is now running an ad that will earn him the “2010 Cojones Grandes” award for political advertising because he claims he’s “Pro-2nd Amendment. “

As a quick aside, the ad also said Coats would “Repeal Healthcare,” but we’re going to follow The Weekly Standard’s view that the ad was just clunky, and Coats meant he would repeal the “Obama healthcare reform package,” not turn into a Kevorkian death panel of one ensuring nobody has any type of healthcare. Of course, if Coats were into precision, he’d have filed his financial disclosure statement on time. Coats will not give a date certain for filing this report, and you should suspect it will NOT be released before the primary because it will disclose the insane amount of cash Coats got as a lobbyist, and it’s not healthy having that kind of information floating around before the primary election. (Isn’t it cool that Senators can go, “Yeah, I know there’s a law I’m violating, but, oh, well. What’s that toothless tiger FEC going to do? Fine me $250?)

Anyway, I’m more pro-gun than some of my Democratic colleagues, and I was okay with Coats’ votes for the Brady Bill and assault weapons ban. What’s wrong with checking somebody’s background for, say, insanity, before you let them buy a gun? But in conservative, NRA circles?!? That’s not just anathema; that’s voters in apoplectic convulsions. To vote for the Brady Bill and the assault weapons ban while claiming you’re pro-2nd amendment in this crowd would be like an abortion doctor claiming he’s pro-life.

This is why, according to Hostettler, RedState reported that if Coats wins, the NRA will endorse Democrat Brad Ellsworth. That would be major.

With such a shaky record on some core conservative issues, will Coats win the primary? Absolutely. Because when his opponents could have attacked him for free, they didn’t, and none of them have enough money to effectively attack him when there’s an actual cost. Even though he’s seriously below fundraising expectations, Coats has raised over $378,000, and his next closest competitor, Marlin Stutzman, raised around $125,000 in the last reporting period.

Herein lies the tragedy in American politics. Dan Coats can whitewash his 2nd Amendment record while wearing a shirt that looks like he borrowed it from Lamar Alexander’s Presidential election, and nobody can pay enough to tell you it’s a myth.

Source

UPDATE: Thanks to Cindy LaMar, Holly Heerdink, and Mary McKannan for their donations!

UPDATE: Because of a generous offer from an individual, all donations given will now be TRIPLED! Please donate today in order to get an ad up on DailyPaul.com as soon as possible.

Our previous post announced that John Hostettler will be holding his first Money Blitz on April 22nd. In an effort to get the word out to as many as possible, Daily Hostettler is doing an Advertisement Donations Matching fundraiser this weekend. The funds will go to taking out an ad for the upcoming Blitz on DailyPaul.com. DailyPaul.com is a very popular news source for all things having to do with Constitutional Politics. John Hostettler’s platform is already very much recognized and supported by users there, so it would be a prime spot to advertise. A small advertisement costs $100, a large one $250. DailyHostettler will match donations given for up to $125 in order to pay for advertising on DailyPaul.com.

This is an excellent opportunity to promote the campaign with your grassroots support. A little goes a long way–if just 10 people give $5, with DailyHostettler matching, that will be enough for a small advertisement. So please take this opportunity to get the word out on our candidate. We have such an incredible opportunity to get a principled man in Washington with the ability to stand and fight for his constituents.

If you’re able to donate, visit our donations page. All donations we receive from now until Sunday at midnight will go towards advertisement. We still want you to give support for John Hostettler’s Money Blitz on April 22nd, so if you’re not able to donate to both, please participate in Hostettler’s Blitz. We’ll put a thank you up on DailyHostettler and facebook to all the people who gave for advertisement, and we’ll let you know as soon as the goal is reached.

Source

INDIANAPOLIS — John Hostettler decided to run for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination in December while watching a CNN segment on YouTube.

A friend forwarded him the link to a clip in which incumbent Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh’s opposition to a public, government-run health insurance option — a proposal that was not included in the final health care law — was discussed in the context of his wife Susan Bayh’s position on the board of directors of an Indianapolis-based insurer.

“I learned that Sen. Bayh’s wife sat on the board of WellPoint and received significant compensation for her position there,” the former congressman said.

An interviewee “referred to it as a possible investment on the part of WellPoint that was paying off in Senator Bayh’s opposition to the public health option,” he said.

The senator’s wife earned more than $2 million from the position.

“That was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Hostettler said.

“I just felt that we have got to stop allowing officeholders to become enriched by their position. And it was very clear to me … that was going on with Senator Bayh.”

Bayh stunned the political world when he announced in February that he would not seek re-election.

Hostettler, though, was committed to staying in the primary field that now includes former U.S. Sen. Dan Coats, state Sen. Marlin Stutzman, financial adviser Don Bates Jr. and plumbing company owner Richard Behney.

Hostettler was born June 19, 1961, in Evansville, the eighth of 10 children, and grew up in rural Posey County.

He was raised in a tight-knit conservative household where he said living with so many brothers and sisters meant his parents placed a premium on following through on one’s obligations.

“My parents instilled in me the idea of being a man of my word. My moral values include the idea that I uphold the oaths that I take and the vows that I make.”

After graduating from North Posey High School in 1979, Hostettler attended Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind., where he earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1983. The same year, he married Beth, his high school sweetheart.

He worked for Southern Indiana Gas & Electric Co. as a power plant performance engineer before beginning his political career in 1994.

That year, the dark-horse candidate emerged from a field of six Republicans who sought to take on six-term incumbent Democratic Rep. Frank McCloskey, who Hostettler had dubbed “Frank McClinton.”

Hostettler was part of the GOP tidal wave that swept the party into power that year.

In the House, Hostettler earned a reputation as a staunch social and fiscal conservative.

On the social end, he sponsored a 1995 bill that would have repealed legislation that allowed District of Columbia residents to register domestic partners for benefits similar to what married couples could receive. That bill passed the House but failed in the Senate.

On the fiscal end, in 1996, he opposed a spending bill that would have ended a federal government shutdown.

Hostettler also opposed the military invasion of Iraq in 2003. He said he believed Saddam Hussein did not pose an imminent threat to the United States.

After serving six terms, Hostettler was defeated by the current 8th District representative, Democrat Brad Ellsworth. The former Vanderburgh County Sheriff won 60 percent of the vote to Hostettler’s 40 percent.

Since that defeat, Hostettler started a publishing house and wrote a book, “Nothing for the Nation Who Got What Out of Iraq,” that is critical of President George W. Bush’s decision to invade the country.

Hostettler was in the process of establishing a small think tank to address public policy issues in the context of the Federalist Papers when, in December, he put it on hold to run for the Senate.

This year, a Hostettler-Ellsworth rematch is possible. Ellsworth is the presumptive Democratic candidate to replace Bayh on the ballot.

Hostettler relishes the idea of another campaign against Ellsworth, especially now that Ellsworth has voted for the Democratic health care law and thus has a record Hostettler believes would be “very difficult to defend — in my opinion impossible to defend in what has been traditionally a red state.”

Hostettler has cited moves such as his vote against the 1996 spending bill during this year’s Senate campaign, as he has sought to brand himself as a “consistent” and “reliable” conservative who can’t be swayed by political winds.

However, Hostettler has made some changes that he says come with the reality of a Senate campaign.

During his House tenure, Hostettler cited his refusal to accept political action committee donations as evidence that he was beholden to no special interests. Now, though, he is accepting political action committee money.

Stutzman’s Subsidies Went To MI Farm

April 13, 2010 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | Share This

By Reid Wilson

IN state Sen. Marlin Stutzman (R) is looking for support from Tea Party activists in his bid to replace Sen. Evan Bayh (D), but he’ll have to explain to the anti-spending crowd why he accepted more than $150K in government handouts.

Stutzman, whose family owns 3 farms, has accepted a total of $156,907 in farm subsidies between ‘97 and ‘06, as the Washington Post’s Dave Weigel reported last week.
Stutzman, running an uphill battle against ex-Sen. Dan Coats (R) and ex-Rep. John Hostettler (R), needs Tea Party activists if he’s going to have any shot. He’s told the crowd he wants to “incrementally move away” from farm subsidies as national policy. And, he told Weigel, he isn’t feeling any heat from those activists.

“I think we’re the front-runner amongst the Tea Party groups,” Stutzman told Hotline OnCall in a brief interview today. “We’ve won both straw polls where all 5 candidates have been.”

What could be troubling, though, is that the government money Stutzman received for his family’s corn, soybean and wheat crops didn’t even go to his home state. Instead, according to a database maintained by the Environmental Working Group, $106K has gone to his family’s farm in St. Joseph Co., MI — just across the border from Stutzman’s hometown, Howe.

That farm, Stutzman said, is operated by his father and his brothers. Still, Tea Party activists in IN largely said they oppose farm subsidies, but none blamed Stutzman for accepting them.

“I don’t like subsidies at all, but there’s other people in our group that may not feel that way. We’ve got independents, Democrats, Republicans that belong to our Tea Party group,” said James Bratten, a Tea Party organizer in Evansville.

“We’d rather not have the subsidies. I’m sure Marlin would say the same thing,” added Diane Hubbard, an Indianapolis Tea Party organizer.

At the same time, she hastily added: “I would, quite frankly, be surprised if [Stutzman] had over half the Tea Party vote.”

Source

Dan Coats recently released a Hoosier Health Care Plan as part of his campaign. Reading it defined for me even more why he would end up a painful disappointment as our next Senator.

Coats begins by outlining what the Obamacare bill is and why it’s bad for Hoosiers. All these points are nice and systematized and make perfect sense. After this he gives his response to the situation:

The take-a-number-and-wait government run Obama-Pelosi-Ellsworth health care plan is not the right plan for Hoosiers, it’s not the right plan for Americans. We need to repeal it immediately!
Then we need to start over on health care reform, from scratch, from the beginning. Republicans and conservative Democrats need to work together incrementally, piece-by-piece, do what we can afford and when we can afford it. We must understand what the real issues are that need to be addressed and make the necessary changes without running America deeper into debt.

He wants to “start over” on health reform! I mean, does this sound any different than the initial proposals on health care? It appears the main issue with the bill is that his voters don’t like it and it costs them money. While this is true, we must remember the overarching reason to oppose the bill: it strips away all the rights and freedoms our Creator and our Constitution endowed us with. It doesn’t need to be “repealed and reformed”, as Dan Coats is proposing.

In some of the propositions in Coats’ plan, he does talk about engaging the states in the reform. But line after line involves “[the government] needs to do this, this, and this”. Coats is solidifying his image as a neo-con. Though he speaks against government expansion, this plan is nothing but that.

This election cycle needs to focus on limiting government and restoring it to its Constitutional boundaries, as Hostettler has so often said is his goal. It’s crucial that we support a candidate that will act exactly in accordance with what he says.