When Paul Helmke, School of Public and Environmental Affairs professor and former mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana, went back home to vote early in the election, he stood in line for more than an hour. As he told the Bloomington Press Club at lunch Monday, this shows just how important the national and state elections are.
“What’s going on locally could be a sign of what’s happening nationally,” Helmke said.
The Bloomington Press Club is an organization of media professionals in Bloomington and the surrounding area. It meets the fourth Monday of every month to eat lunch in the Coronation Room of the Indiana Memorial Union and listen to guest speakers. This month’s meeting focused on the upcoming election.
Both the Senate race between Evan Bayh and Todd Young and the House of Representatives race between Trey Hollingsworth and Shelli Yoder are crucial races to make early predictions about which party will have control of Congress, Helmke said. If Democrats Bayh or Yoder win their respective races, there is a strong chance their party will take the majority.
Helmke also connected the history of Indiana politics and IU to the presidential election. Wendell Willkie, the man for whom Willkie Quadrangle is named, clinched the Republican nomination in 1940 without having ever held public office. Helmke said Wilkie was the last person to do this for either major party until Donald Trump.
Since there is much less history with someone of his background, Trump has used his experience as a famous business persona to complain both that the media don’t cover him enough and spend too much time focusing only on what he has done instead of his opponent.
“The media’s getting slapped from all sides in this election,” Helmke said.
Trump, however, is using the media just as much as he feels they are using him, Helmke said. Trump’s years working with entertainment media has taught him how to manipulate them differently than a politician might.
This election offers fresh perspectives in other ways as well, Helmke said.
In addition to a Washington outsider, America has its first female nominee for a major party, Hillary Clinton. As obvious as that may be, Helmke said the significance has often been overlooked.
“We forget to stop and think about how unique it is,” Helmke said.
Clinton herself is not new to politics, so Helmke said her accomplishments are simply part of her long career.
Clinton’s dismissal by the general public is due in part to her longevity, Helmke said.
He explained in politics, the shelf-life theory says a potential presidential candidate only has 12 years after entering the public sphere to run for the first time. This way, there is no long, scandalous history, something neither Clinton nor Trump can escape.
Although the two current candidates are facing their mistakes, their contemporaries also know how difficult the road to the Oval Office can be. More presidential nominees have been born in the 1940s than any other decade.
Helmke, who said he began researching major party nominees’ birthdays, found Trump, both Bill and Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush, Mitt Romney and Al Gore were all born between 1946 and 1948.
“This is probably the last revenge of the Baby Boomers,” Helmke said.
