Down to the wire

Encircled by a mass of supporters armed with blue and red signs, Gov. Joe Kernan shook IU students' hands while making a campaign stop at the Sample Gates Thursday.\nKernan spoke about cutting tuition, making health care more affordable and bringing more jobs to Indiana, but it might have been hard to even hear him. During his speech, protestors tried to drown out the governor.\nKernan supporters tried to silence the activists, but Kernan didn't mind -- he just kept talking. He had bigger things on his mind, such as the five days left before Election Day.\n"I like to think about it as only 120 hours or so until Indiana makes (its) decision," Kernan joked. "That way, it doesn't seem as long."\nWith so little time left, the Kernan-Davis campaign has been busy. According to an Indianapolis Star/WTHR poll, Republican gubernatorial candidate Mitch Daniels leads by only 3 percentage points in the race.\nKernan sat down at Bloomington's Village Deli for lunch and spoke to seniors at Redbud Hills Retirement Community earlier in the day. \nWhile gathering at the Sample Gates, Kernan was joined by local Democrats, such as State Rep. Peggy Welch, State Sen. Vi Simpson and Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan. Although not all of these politicians agree with Kernan's support for the I-69 plan to extend the interstate from Indianapolis to Evansville, they still back their candidate.\n"I think you have to look beyond just one issue," Kruzan said. "I disagree with him about I-69, but I still will be voting for him."\nSimpson agreed, saying that she supports the I-69 extension but prefers an alternate route.\n"But I-69 isn't all you're getting with Joe Kernan," Simpson said. "He's done so much for bringing jobs to Indiana and helping our economy that we need to keep him in office."\nTensions were high at the rally, and IU Police Department Lt. Jerry Minger said he was keeping a watch on the event but that nothing got out of control. Arguments between die-hard Democrats and anti-I-69 activists continued long after the event.\n"I just don't see how you can go through with a route that 94 percent of Hoosiers are against," senior Daniel Cappy told Kernan supporters.\nHighway construction wasn't the only issue debated. One protestor yelled Kernan was giving more attention to Ivy Tech and other state colleges than public institutions like IU.\nKernan disagreed, saying "Education is (the) way for all Hoosiers to succeed and should be available for everyone."\nHe said he plans to keep tuition low, not with mandatory tuition caps similar to one proposed by Indiana State Sen. Luke Kenley last February, but by working with leaders, such as IU President Adam Herbert.\n"We need to work with the universities, not against them," Kernan said. \nSenior Peter Cheun, vice president of IU's College Democrats, said he thinks Kernan is the best man to keep tuition down.\n"Every year, tuition has been raised by 6 or 7 percent, and with Kernan, it raised by only 4 percent," he said. "We've seen what he can do for college students."\nSophomore Emma Cullen came out to support Kernan because she believes Kernan will help college students more than Daniels.\n"As much as he says he isn't, Daniels is a career politician," she said. "He just isn't in touch with us students. He doesn't worry about keeping tuition costs down because he's rich and he can pay for it."\nBoth candidates have raised more than $28 million in political contribution since last year -- record numbers for Indiana. Campaign ads have dominated television, including Kernan's ad launched in September, attacking Daniels for his role in the sale of power company Indiana Power and Light Company.\nSome have called this one of the nastiest gubernatorial elections in Indiana in years, but Kernan wouldn't say so.\n"Obviously, they haven't been around that long," Kernan said. "I think this has been a campaign about issues, and our strategy is to look ahead and see what Indiana could be doing better."\nKernan said the only deciding factor in this race to him is "who gets more votes."\n"I trust the people of Indiana, and I trust that they'll make the right decision as they head to the polls." \n-- Contact Weekend editor in chief Adam Aasen at aaasen@indiana.edu.