Mitch couldn’t be ditched

As jovial supporters of Barack Obama, some rowdier than others, celebrated across campus on election night, IU’s Republican activists probably felt a little left out.

But there was one thing they could take solace in: Gov. Mitch Daniels won re-election.

Daniels did well, beating out Democratic challenger Jill Long Thompson 58 percent to 40 percent. Clearly, given Obama’s victory in Indiana, a Democrat can do well in the state. The upsurge of Democratic activism seemed to push Rep. Baron Hill (D-9th) to his greatest electoral victory against his recurrent Republican challenger Mike Sodrel.

Therefore, it seems worth asking why Long Thompson fared so poorly against Daniels. No doubt much blame must fall on her lackluster campaign. Long Thompson never seemed to win the support of Indiana’s Democratic establishment, most of which backed Indianapolis architect Jim Schellinger in the primary. Drastically underfunded – being outspent by at least $10 million – Long Thompson couldn’t compete against Daniels’ air time.

With his impressive war chest, Daniels was able to craft a generally positive message that focused on his past effectiveness. By contrast, Long Thompson tended to take advantage of the limited publicity she could get by going negative. The end result was that she never seemed to define her own candidacy.

How do we feel about Daniels being our governor for four more years? Obviously, given our endorsement of Long Thompson, we are a bit disappointed. That being said, we hardly doubt Daniels’ ability to govern effectively and take comfort in his record of fiscal responsibility going into this recession.

On his agenda for 2009, Daniels wants to pass a constitutional amendment to make the caps on property taxes permanent. He also wants to create an Automatic Taxpayer Refund, to return tax revenue collected by the government once the budget is balanced and once the Rainy Day Fund, the Medicaid reserve and School Rainy Day fund are full.

Such proposals are good and well, though we doubt the state will be awash in extra funds any time in the near future. His proposals that excite us the most involve an increase in education funding. During the next legislative session Daniels is also planning to seek approval for his Hoosier College Promise initiative which would grant Indiana students two years of free tuition at Ivy Tech Community College or an equivalent amount of $6,000 elsewhere.

Increasing the quality of education offered in Indiana remains the best strategy for long-term growth.

No issue has divided us more than Daniels’ privatization plans. Moving forward we hope he will proceed with caution when it comes to further privatizing the state’s infrastructure. We also hope he will address some of the inadequacies of newly privatized social services.

With any luck, Daniels will provide a steady hand as Indiana enters into a potentially tough time. By a wide margin Indiana voters showed confidence in Daniels. We hope their confidence was well-placed.