State Elections

Rokita begins airing first television commercial\nINDIANAPOLIS -- Republican Todd Rokita began airing his first campaign commercial Sunday in his bid to become Indiana's next secretary of state, urging a "get-tough plan" for those who cheat investors and pensioners.\nThe 30-second spots for Rokita, who is currently deputy secretary of state under incumbent Sue Anne Gilroy, are being broadcast on network stations in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, South Bend and Evansville.\nRokita faces Democrat John Fernandez, the mayor of Bloomington, and Libertarian Rebecca Sink-Burris on Nov. 5 in what will be the top statewide ticket on the ballot. There are no races for governor or U.S. Senate in Indiana this year.\nThe introduction ad for Rokita says he believes public service is a public trust and that he will work to protect investors and pensioners "from scams and Enron-like scandals."\n"Todd Rokita has a get-tough plan to deal with those who cheat investors and pensioners and it begins with sending the swindlers to jail," the ad says.\nRokita and Fernandez each have pledged to double the number of securities investigators in the office and back legislation giving the secretary of state more authority to pursue criminal charges against those who commit securities fraud.\nFernandez began airing television commercials on Thursday. Both campaigns say they will be on the air through Election Day.\nNew poll shows Long Thompson, Chocola in dead heat\nSOUTH BEND -- Democrat Jill Long Thompson and Republican Chris Chocola remain in a dead heat in their campaign for the open seat representing Indiana's 2nd congressional district, a new poll shows.\nThe survey, conducted for the South Bend Tribune and television station WSBT and published Monday, showed 46 percent of likely voters saying they supported Long Thompson, with 45 percent supporting Chocola and 9 percent undecided.\nThe poll of 402 likely voters Oct. 7-9 in the northern Indiana district had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.\nThe results indicate that support for neither candidate has changed much after weeks of television commercials in their bids to replace Democratic Rep. Tim Roemer, who did not seek election to a seventh term.\nTwo Tribune/WBST surveys in September also showed support for Long Thompson, a former three-term congresswoman from a neighboring district, and Chocola, who lost a close race to Roemer in 2000, within the margin of error.\nThe race is one of the nation's most closely watched congressional campaigns as both parties see it as a key seat in their efforts to control the House, in which Republicans now have a 223-208 majority.\nThe new poll shows women preferred Long Thompson by a 10-point margin, while Chocola had an 8-point margin among men.\nPollster Del Ali of Research 2000, the Rockville, Md., firm that has conducted the Tribune/WSBT polls, said the "huge gender gap" was a significant factor for both campaigns.\nChocola faces a fine line between drawing a contrast with Long Thompson and appearing too negative in criticism of a woman, Ali said.\nFor each candidate, Ali said: "You have to keep your lead with your own gender and get more competitive with the other"