Sodrel, Hill face off for 4th time in 9th Congressional District

Nine days before Mike Sodrel announced he would be running for the 9th District congressional seat for the fourth time, Democratic incumbent Baron Hill filed his annual Federal Election Commission campaign finance report.\nHill has raised more than $900,000 for his 2008 campaign for reelection, he said in a statement. \nAs of last week, Sodrel hadn’t started fundraising yet, said Diego Morales, spokesman for Friends of Mike Sodrel. \nSodrel and Hill ran against each other in every 9th District race since 2002. Hill won in 2002, Sodrel won in 2004 and Hill won again in 2006.\nIn recent elections, money matters, said Massie Ritsch, communication director for the Center for Responsive Politics.\nRitsch said 93 percent of House races in 2006 were won by the candidate who spent the most money. \nHowever, according to the Center of Responsive Politics Web site, in the last three races between Hill and Sodrel, the winner raised less money overall than the other candidate. \nRitsch said as a former congressman and a man who is personally wealthy, Sodrel should not have a problem coming up with the financial means to compete with Hill. \n“This is a seat that Republicans want to win back,” Ritsch said. “So he’ll probably get a lot of support from his own party. The odds will probably even out pretty quickly.”\nHill defeated Sodrel twice, in 2002 and 2006, but Sodrel’s constituents do not think Hill will be as successful this time around. Morales said Sodrel decided to run another campaign because he was receiving an onslaught of encouragement to do so from the members of his party and the people of the 9th District. \n“This is a conservative district and that is why Mr. Sodrel is coming back to retake it,” Morales said. “It’ll be two to two, I’m very positive about it.” \nJennifer Wagner, communications director for the Indiana Democratic Party said she expects the race to draw a lot of media attention.\n“I think the biggest thing (Hill) has learned is that he has to be out there,” Wagner said. “These last races have been pretty ugly and, as a candidate, it’s important to put out a positive message. It’s important to show what you are doing.” \nThe 9th District covers four media markets, Wagner said. Therefore it is important for candidates to be well-funded in order to reach the entire district. \nOne thing both parties seem to agree on is that being a republican has often taken the results of Sodrel’s campaigns out of his hands. \nWagner said Sodrel won the district in 2004 by less than 1,500 votes even while President Bush took the district by more than 10 percent. The President’s popularity has decreased significantly since then she said, so being connected to the current President’s party may not help Sodrel in this campaign. \nMorales said the only reason Sodrel was defeated in 2006 was because Democrats were tying him to the Republicans receiving so much bad press at the time. \n“This will be a well-watched, well-funded race,” Wagner said.