McIntosh announces second bid for governor

INDIANAPOLIS -- With little fanfare and few supporters on hand, Republican David McIntosh formally announced Thursday that he would run for governor again in 2004.\nMcIntosh raised and spent more than $8 million as the GOP nominee in 2000, only to lose by 15 percentage points to Democratic Gov. Frank O'Bannon. He said Thursday that times had changed, but his core messages of fiscal restraint and job-creation have not.\n"We ran three years ago on a vision for this state of conservative fiscal policy, strong family values, getting jobs created in high-tech and other sectors, and I feel called on to run again on that same platform," McIntosh said in his announcement in the Statehouse Rotunda.\nMcIntosh formally joined a crowded field of Republicans who are running or exploring a run. But unlike the announcement of his 2000 bid, there was no crowd on hand Thursday.\nReporters appeared to outnumber backers, and McIntosh was repeatedly interrupted by the sounds of renovation work being done on the third floor of the Statehouse.\nMcIntosh promised to cut property taxes by 25 percent during his last bid and made the "guarantee" the centerpiece of his campaign. He later acknowledged that falling revenues and other state budget problems would have forced his plan to be delayed or diluted.\nThe 44-year-old former congressman did not make the same pledge again on Thursday. But he did say that he would run a more grassroots campaign, and suggested that name identity built up during the last campaign could give him an advantage over other GOP hopefuls.\nBrian Vargus, a political pollster at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, put the chances of McIntosh getting the nomination at "little to none."\n"Basically, David McIntosh has tattooed on his forehead the scarlet 'L' for loser," Vargus said. "It's a combination of the property tax promise, and, quite frankly, he lost. His name has been around for a long time, but it's attached to a losing race that everyone thought was eminently winnable. Even most Republicans didn't like what he did in the last race."\nHistory, too, is not on McIntosh's side.\nNot since Democrat Thomas Hedricks was elected in 1872 has a major party gubernatorial nominee lost an election for governor and subsequently come back to win the job.\nMcIntosh said he intended on waiting until after the holidays to announce his bid, but moved it up after Democratic Lt. Gov. Joe Kernan dropped out of the race Monday.\nTwo other Democrats who had been mentioned as possible candidates -- Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson and retiring U.S. Rep. Tim Roember -- also said they would not run. U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, a former two-term governor, has said another run for governor is unlikely.\nRepublicans already had four people seeking their party's nomination: State Senators Luke Kenley of Noblesville and Murray Clark of Indianapolis; conservative activist Eric Miller; and Petersburg Mayor Randy Harris.\nHowever, the person most touted by Republicans has been White House Budget Director Mitch Daniels.\n"David is a great guy with a great record, but I am not sure there will be any real action until Mitch Daniels makes a decision," state GOP Executive Director Luke Messer, a former McIntosh congressional aide, told The Star Press of Muncie.\nMiller said Thursday he was in the race for the duration.\n"The more candidates that are involved, I think the better off it is for me because if you split 400,000 or 500,000 votes five or six different ways, it takes fewer votes to win the primary," Miller said.\nDaniels, Messer said, was "the 800-pound gorilla" in the 2004 Republican field.\nMcIntosh said he would run a different campaign this time. That would include talking more about his record in Congress and taking a more grassroots approach.\n"I'm thinking of it as 92 different sheriff's campaigns, where we do county-by-county efforts," he said.