Democrats face difficult fight for governor’s office in November

INDIANAPOLIS – Democrats have been shooting arrows at Republican Mitch Daniels since the day he became governor, and they think he has wounds that could make him vulnerable if he runs again as expected.\nThey also know they face a formidable challenge in trying to reclaim an office they held for 16 years until Daniels took the helm in early 2005.\n“Mitch Daniels can be beaten, but he’s not going to be easy to beat,” said state Democratic Chairman Dan Parker. “He has all of the advantages in his corner: money, the bully pulpit and a presidential election year.”\nDaniels is expected to formally announce his bid for a second term on Saturday at Butler University, where he began a months-long RV tour of Indiana in 2003 on his way to defeating incumbent Gov. Joe Kernan the next year. The two raised a state record $33 million in that race, with Daniels outpacing Kernan by about $3 million.\nFormer state Democratic Chairman Robin Winston predicts a Democrat would need at least $20 million to mount a credible campaign against Daniels, who began this year with $2.6 million.\nRepublicans don’t expect Daniels to have a primary challenger, but the picture isn’t as clear for Democrats.\nState Senate Minority Leader Richard Young, D-Milltown, and Jim Schellinger, a Democratic activist and president of an Indianapolis architecture firm, already are seeking the party’s nomination. Former U.S. Rep. Jill Long Thompson plans to announce her bid next month.\nParker hopes Democrats coalesce around one candidate to avoid a costly primary.\nBrian Vargus, a political scientist at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, does not believe any of the three Democrats can beat Daniels.\nVargus said Daniels can tout a number of accomplishments: expanding full-day kindergarten, helping erase a big budget deficit, using much of the $3.8 billion payment for the toll lease for road projects and landing a new $550 million Honda plant in southeastern Indiana.\nBut Democrats say they have plenty of ammunition against Daniels, including his decision to lease the Indiana Toll Road to a foreign consortium, his push to move Indiana to statewide daylight-saving time, economic progress that has lagged behind the rest of the nations the nation and a 2005 budget the party says was balanced on the backs of property tax payers and schools.\nThen there’s Daniels himself.\n“When he stands in a room full of people – whether they’re CEOs, farmers or workers on an assembly line – he assumes he’s the smartest guy there,” Parker said.\nYoung, Schellinger and Long Thompson have spent recent weeks traveling the state, talking with party officials and activists.\nYoung acknowledges that he lacks widespread name recognition, so he has traveled to 40 counties so far, primarily meeting with Democratic organizers. Like Schellinger and Long Thompson, he has not detailed a specific agenda, but he says Daniels has been a polarizing figure and there is a need to “reduce partisanship and bring people together.”\nThe favorite among many top Democrats is Schellinger, in part because of his personality, business credentials and fundraising experience. He has never run for public office but believes that’s a plus because he’s a fresh face – an advantage also cited by his supporters. \nIndianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, U.S. Rep. Julia Carson and former Indiana House Speaker John Gregg have endorsed him. Campaign adviser Mike Edmondson said it is too early to roll out a detailed platform.\n“Jim has been focused on traveling the state, listening to Hoosiers and trying to find commonsense solutions for problems in our state,” Edmondson said. Schellinger cannot lead by consensus, Edmondson said, “and come out and say, ‘Here is what I’ll do as governor,’ before listening to the people.”\nLong Thompson, who represented the Fort Wayne area in Congress from 1989 to early 1995, said she would quit her job at an agriculture think tank in Washington, D.C., on June 30 and announce her bid in July. She ran an unsuccessful congressional race against Chris Chocola in northern Indiana’s 2nd District in 2002.\nShe has been a vocal opponent of some of Daniels’ privatization efforts, saying they can result in poorer service and security to residents.\nState GOP Chairman Murray Clark said Daniels spent his first 2 1/2 years pushing a progressive agenda that is paying off for Indiana, and in part will run on that record.\n“As the days and weeks evolve, you will see more and more tangible evidence of those changes that involved difficult political decisions,” Clark said.\nDemocrats think it’s a record that could be to their advantage. Regardless, their candidates know a run against Daniels will be a major challenge.\n“I expect he will be a very tenacious campaigner,” Young said.