Daniels speaks with locals on campus

Republican gubernatorial candidate Mitch Daniels stopped in Bloomington Tuesday to promote his "Roadmap to an Indiana comeback" and to talk with locals.\n"We're hoping to get citizens involved, to strengthen the economy and to build on the quality of life," Daniels said to a crowd of about 20 people in Dunn Meadow. "We need to concentrate on things that unite us all."\nDaniels, who left his post as director of the White House Office of Management and Budget in the summer of 2003, defeated conservative activist Eric Miller in May for the Republican nomination. He faces Gov. Joe Kernan, the Democratic candidate, in the November election.\nAndy Gigax, a junior who had never heard Daniels speak, said he liked seeing the candidate in action.\n"He does a great job working the crowd," Gigax said. "He's definitely a people person, very down-to-earth."\nBloomington resident Amy Bernitt said she is a long-time supporter of Daniels and has seen him speak seven or eight times. Her young daughter wore a "My Man Mitch" T-shirt that Daniels signed.\n"I support him, number one, because of his Christian values," Bernitt said.\nDaniels shook hands, chatted with residents and commented on a number of issues affecting the state.\nHe lamented about the "Indiana brain drain," or the exportation of young Indiana graduates to different states. \n"The environment works for us, and if we can get the economy to work for us, we can change the brain drain," he said.\n"(Traveling) is not a bad idea. Go see the world. And don't stop at California -- go see China," Daniels joked. "But when people want to be here (in Indiana), who want to come home and then they can't do it, that's a problem."\nPaul Hager, a GOP candidate running for the seat for Indiana state House District 60, echoed Daniels' brain drain sentiments.\n"I went to school here in Indiana, and I think the real tragedy is that there are so little opportunities to do something with your degree in Indiana," Hager said. "Indiana needs to be more business friendly, and we really need to cut the bloat."\nDaniels playfully acknowledged he has "cheerfully plagiarized" some his comeback ideas from neighboring states and businesses he is familiar with. He cited John Engler, a former Republican governor of Michigan, as " an innovative governor," and said some of his ethics proposals for restoring trust in government come from Illinois. \nDaniels also spoke about the divided government in Indiana. Currently Democrats hold a one-vote margin in the state house while Republicans control the state senate 32 to 18. \n"If I get hired, I'll go to the Democrats in the legislature and say that the public knows they wanted to give some of my ideas a chance," he said.\nAlthough a traditionally Republican state, Indiana has sent Democrats to the governor's mansion for the last four gubernatorial elections.\nDaniels dismissed the idea that a split ballot between two politicians from different parties who are popular in Indiana -- Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh and President Bush -- would have much of an affect on the outcome of the governor's race.\n"I've worked with President Bush, but I don't ask anyone to vote for me because of that," he said.\nDaniels also responded to a recent television ad he has been running on local networks. \n"The people who have been in power now for so long aren't bad people," he says in the ad. "I just think they have been in Indianapolis so long that they have lost touch with the severity of our problems." \n"I guarantee that some of our fellow citizens feel isolated and estranged," he told the crowd.\n"Some of them feel closer to places like Chicago and Illinois, or to Ohio, or Michigan or Kentucky.\n"But it does matter in Indianapolis if Gosport succeeds or fails, and it does matter in Bloomington if Lake County succeeds or fails. We're all in this together."\n-- Contact opinion editor Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu.