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(09/12/12 10:35pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In a nondescript white warehouse on Bloomington’s west side, a local craft brewery is primed to make leaps into a bigger market. “We have the ability to triple, or more, what we do here,” Caleb Staton said.Staton is head brewer at Upland Brewing Co., which recently shifted most of its craft beer production from the Bloomington Brew Pub on West 11th Street to the white warehouse. Upland has been a Bloomington staple since 1998.While locals might be familiar with brews like Upland Wheat Ale and Dragonfly IPA, on tap at restaurants and bars from Nick’s English Hut to Kilroy’s Bar & Grill, it’s the specialty barrel-aged beer that garnered the brewery two Brewer’s Cups at the Indiana State Fair.Those beers, Staton said, will continue to be produced at the Brew Pub. And while the new facility will give the brewery room to grow, Staton said Indianapolis and Bloomington remain its biggest markets for now. “Support in Bloomington is very healthy,” Staton said.He said he occasionally gets shipping requests from graduates who have moved farther afield.Although some beers, such as Upland’s Oktoberfest Lager, are available seasonally (grab that one this week), others like Bad Elmer’s Porter can be found on shelves year-round. Upland enthusiasts can look forward to the release of Double Dragonfly Imperial IPA and Teddy Bear Kisses stout, available the last week of September, and the new Fresh Hopped Harvest Ale, which is set for an Oct. 1 release.By Claire Wiseman
(09/12/12 1:39am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The email went out Thursday, hours before President Barack Obama addressed the Democratic National Convention. The Indiana Republican Party sent a message titled “Lost and Found.” “Somehow,” the message began, “a thumb drive containing the ready-for-teleprompter first draft of President Obama’s DNC acceptance speech for tonight was lost and found in Charlotte, then passed along to us.” The attached link, it turned out, was not a draft. “It was purely parody,” said Pete Seat, communications director of the Indiana Republican Party. “It’s something we did in-house.” Seat paused. “It would be cool if we found one,” he added. What Seat and E-Campaign Manager Marina Nicholson produced in-house was a YouTube video with scrolling dialogue meant to emulate the words displayed on a teleprompter screen. It begins innocuously enough, rolling a description of the date and setting, “Thursday, September 6, 2012, Bank of America Stadium (Rain or shine).” But the first words of dialogue make the parody obvious. “I accept your nomination to run for re-election not on my record, but against my opponent!” Seat said highlighting Obama’s record was the point. “It served its purpose, I think, to point out, ‘Here’s the things Obama will ignore,’ and that’s exactly what happened,” Seat said. The parody already has more than 1,000 views, making it the most popular of the Indiana Republican Party’s videos by far.“How close will the first draft be to the delivered version?” the email asked. “We’ll know tonight.” The answer was not at all. Obama’s speech was, in fact, very different from the fake “first draft.” Seat pointed to issues like unemployment, which he said Obama failed to discuss during his acceptance speech. In Charlotte, N.C., Obama spoke broadly about the economy. “When the house of cards collapsed in the great recession, millions of innocent Americans lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings, a tragedy from which we’re still fighting to recover,” Obama said.The parody video, Nicholson said, is a great example of what can be accomplished creatively and with low-budget technology. When the idea was first pitched, they knew they’d need a way to easily create and package the product. Nicholson said she normally edits campaign update videos on her computer. They used the application dv Prompter before this video. It creates scrolling text that runs on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch screen. In the past, Nicholson said, they’d used it in the field or when the party chairman taped video updates. Seat created the video’s text using the application, and Nicholson made a tripod from a stack of CDs. Her iPhone taped the scrolling text on Seat’s phone. She used Google to search for ways to clean up the audio, remove the sound of people walking on the floor above and stabilize the image. “It’s still a little shaky,” Nicholson said. “But that’s part of the charm.” Seat said the story of the video’s production makes it particularly interesting.“Sometimes, if you want to cut through the noise, you have to do it in a little creative way, and that’s what we wanted to do,” Seat said.The Indiana Republican Party's video can be viewed here.
(09/10/12 4:29am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Pancakes, Pence shirts and political action were up for discussion at the Monroe County Republicans’ breakfast Saturday. More than 50 Republicans packed tables in the American Legion Post 18’s back room. Before the meeting’s official start, IU College Republicans mingled with party officials and nearly all of Monroe County’s local candidates. “How many people in the room are Republicans?” Monroe County GOP Chairperson Steve Hogan said.The question, it seemed, was rhetorical. But Hogan got a few arm raises and more than a few chuckles.Less than 60 days before the November election, the presidential race was the topic of the day. Supporters wore red “Todd Young for Congress” or blue “Pence, Ellspermann” T-shirts. One even sported a green “My Man Mitch” tee, a throwback to the 2004 gubernatorial race. Precinct Committeeman Robert Hall brought special signs and bumper stickers to the meeting.They read, “Had enough? Vote Republican.”Hall said the slogan came from a campaign website in Texas.When the meeting began, Hogan discussed filling positions for Election Day and distributing yard signs and bumper stickers. He then introduced Kyle Spencer, political director of the IU College Republicans.Spencer set the tone by describing what he said was the main difference between Democrats and Republicans.“Republicans believe that America is great not because of the breadth and the size of the government but because of people like you, who show up this morning,” Spencer said. “You support a cause, and you believe in the United States of America.”That sort of news was inspiring for young people, Spencer said. He also said more than 170 students and faculty attended the IU GOP’s callout meeting last week. After business was finished, Chuck Trzcinka shared economic insights. Trzcinka is a professor in the Kelley School of Business and the IUCR’s adviser. “What I’m going to do — now, don’t throw things at me — I want to talk about a Democrat,” Trzcinka said. He went on to explain how Alice Rivlin, the woman who started the congressional budget office, was involved in developing what he described as the responsible economic policies he said today’s Democrats have lost. “If there are responsible Democrats like you say, and I believe it, why do we have the president we have?” one woman asked. Trzcinka said he couldn’t necessarily offer political insight but said he thought the 2008 economic crash led people to vote for Barack Obama. Another guest added that the movie “2016: Obama’s America,” might offer insight into the other party’s motives. “Think about solutions,” Trzcinka said. While demonizing the opposing party might be simple, he said, looking forward will provide a better outcome.
(09/07/12 3:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In her husband’s latest campaign advertisement, Karen Pence delivers to voters a message from the classroom. “Mike will be an education governor,” she says in the commercial. “I should know. I’ve been educating him for years.” Rep. Mike Pence, R-6th District, released his seventh television advertisement less than a week after unveiling a detailed higher education policy proposal. These steps include using grants to reward college students for on-time and early graduation and increasing state funding to programs like dual-credit courses and accelerated degree programs. According to a policy outline released by the campaign, Pence’s six policy steps aim to “Improve academic success through policies that increase the rate of on-time college completion and decrease the cost of obtaining a degree from Indiana’s public colleges and universities.”One of the proposed policy steps would require students “to make meaningful progress along degree completion milestones to receive continued financial aid funding.” If implemented, that step in particular would signal a move away from the current financial aid structure, which allows students eight semesters of support and requires only a minimum grade-point average.“We believe part of the current state dollars should be committed to students that make the progress necessary to stay on a four-year degree path and given to those students as a bonus when they complete college early or on time,” said Christy Denault, communications director for Mike Pence for Indiana. Public grant funding concerns are valid but need to be hammered out more fully than Pence’s current proposals, said Don Hossler, a faculty member in the IU School of Education and former IU-Bloomington vice chancellor for enrollment services. The biggest concern would be the potential impact of his policies on students, Hossler said.Hossler said Pence’s proposal might not allow for students who change majors for a valid reason. Consider a student who came to IU to study business but isn’t admitted to the Kelley School of Business and is forced to find a new path, Hossler said. Others, Hossler pointed out, might be excellent students who simply change their minds.“It’s actually not as easy as I think his policy suggests to quickly ascertain which students are on a path to a degree and which ones are sort of just meandering around a curriculum,” Hossler said. The proposal also provides rewards for universities that increase on-time degree completion and aims to make taking required courses easier for students. “Degree completion in four years requires the shared commitment of both the student and the public university,” Denault said. Hossler said rewarding universities based on graduation rates might disadvantage smaller institutions. Requiring universities to catalog information such as the number of times a student switches majors would require a non-trivial amount of work in information management, Hossler said.So far, Pence’s opponent for governor, Democrat John Gregg, has not released any higher education policy proposals, but his Communications Director Daniel Altman said their camp will outline plans more fully as the campaign continues. Altman was quick to point to Pence’s voting record in Washington D.C., which Altman said included voting against Pell Grants. “Pence’s 12-year record in Congress shows that he has voted time and time again against Indiana students,” Altman said in a press release.
(08/31/12 5:10am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>TAMPA, Fla. — All week, the Republican National Convention turned the city into a stage. Beyond the security perimeter, Occupiers and anarchists raised signs for news cameras. Hurricane Isaac engulfed the weekend’s coverage.Inside the Tampa Bay Times Forum, Mitt Romney delegates and sobbing Ron Paul supporters jockeyed for attention with governors, senators and with the man who wants to be the next President of the United States.Just five miles away, at the notorious Mons Venus Strip Club, another kind of power play was unfolding. Dancers hung from bars or worked their way around a pole, snapping chunky heels on the hardwood as they vied for attention from men seated in the cool room.In a darkened corner, a dancer, who goes by the stage name Star, approached a potential customer. The black light picked up white patches in the delegate’s credentials that hung from his neck.Star had just finished a private dance and was pulling her T-shirt back on over a leopard print bra. Her platform stilettos, the only other item of clothing on her body, gave her height and brought her level with the delegate.She was selling him a lap dance. It could make her $20 to $30 but the delegate wasn’t interested. “You hear ‘no’ a thousand times, and you’re naked,” said Star, whose real name is Christine. “So it makes you feel awful.” The women who dance here hoped for an economic boon as the convention brought thousands into Tampa. The city is known as the strip club capital of the country.By mid-week, they hadn’t seen the business uptick they were counting on.Wednesday night, the convention speakers talked of the possibilities their candidates would give the American people, and of “opportunity and limitless horizons.”On stage at the Mons and on the stage at the Forum, this week has been about power, Christine said. At work, it’s power over men, power over femininity and the power exerted by fellow dancers.“I read a definition of politics once that said that politics is the study of power,” she said. “If that’s all it is, then all of this shit has been bullshit. All of it. It’s just how one man learned how he can get to the top.”* * *If she wakes up in time, Christine goes for an afternoon run at Cypress Point Park. From the beach, Old Tampa Bay fills the gap between St. Petersburg, Fla., and Tampa. “I fucking hate running,” she said as she crosses under trees hung heavy with Spanish moss.Right now, she’s on the Mons Venus manager’s “fat list.” Every girl at the club has something she struggles with, she said. For her, it’s weight. So she runs in bursts, short distances on the paved path.Christine followed her high school sweetheart here. She was 17 and enrolled as a Liberal Studies major at St. Leo University. She and her sweetheart broke up.She started working to pay her way through school. Years later, she’s given up on that program. She’s also given up on relationships and a life that exists in the daytime.She stays for the money — cold cash that comes in every night. On a good evening, she’ll make $800 to $1,200. “It’s work,” Christine said. “People think we just get to smile and look pretty and wear high heels and it’s work, it’s hard.”She’s nocturnal. Her friends are dancers. Her text messages come in after dark.It’s a completely different world, and she said she doesn’t think the Republicans flooding the streets of Tampa understand.Christine is registered to vote as an independent, but said she won’t be voting this year. When she thinks about Republicans, she said, she thinks they’re conservative and rich.In the club, when she’s looking for a rich guy, the first thing she looks for are nice shoes.The nicest pair she saw last week?“Ferragamo.”* * *According to the Republican National Convention’s official website, 2,286 delegates and 2,125 alternate delegates swept into Tampa in the days leading up to the convention.With the exception of Tuesday, when proceedings began early to make up for time by Tropical Storm Isaac, the convention was a nighttime event. In the evening, delegates and alternates heard about the economy and President Barack Obama’s supposed failed policies and the love between Ann and Mitt Romney. During the day, the delegates shopped and ate and went on boat cruises and attended receptions. While Christine slept off Tuesday night’s late shift, delegates examined Tervis Tumbler glasses emblazoned with the party logo and contemplated gifts to take home to their families.At Westshore Plaza Mall’s Hallmark Gold Crown store, a display meant to entice delegates put the GOP in the spotlight.“Another birthday and you still look like a million bucks,” reads a card featuring a cartoon version of Mitt Romney. Inside, it read, “Trust me, I know what a million bucks looks like.”Just inside the store’s entrance, Margaret and David Kimball, dressed in red Hawaii delegation T-shirts, picked out gifts to bring home to their children.Tampa looked beautiful, they said. There was more there than they expected. They needed some “paraphernalia” to remember the trip.“Taking a wreath home is a little overboard,” David Kimball said, gesturing to a silver circle studded with blue and red foil stars.In the Chick-Fil-A section of the food court, three women from the National Federation of Republican Women took a break from shopping.Fresh from a brunch with Ann Romney and her daughters-in-law, they gushed about her poise. Soon, they’d head into the mall’s Saks Fifth Avenue store, where the Florida Federation of Republican Women was hosting a fashion show. Like Republicans on stage who highlighted small businesses, the women discussed the party’s stance on the economy.“This isn’t an exclusive club,” Ohio delegate Linda Burke said. “We want prosperity for every person in this country.”What she wants, she said, is for Americans to work rather than receive government aid.“If people do something for themselves, they appreciate it more,” Burke said.At the delegate’s feet, her tote bag bore an ornately embroidered elephant.***Wednesday night, Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan spoke about the need for young Americans to live with financial strength.“Everyone who feels stuck in the Obama economy is right to focus on the here and now,” Ryan said.Later, in the dressing room at the Mons Venus, the dancers complained that there weren’t enough dollars on the dance floor to go around. It was 12:33 a.m.“Are there people out there?” Christine asked.“No,” said a dancer who goes by Eve. “I tell you what, I make more money bartending on the weekends than I have the past month in five nights working here.”Three dancers stood in front of the wall of mirrors lining the space where the women applied makeup, put on six-inch heels and took swigs from small bottles of Sutter Home White Zinfandel.Above their heads, cubby holes held their heels, their bags, and in one, a box of supplements meant to improve joint health.Dancing hurts your body, Christine said.“You’ll see a lot of young girls on the pole,” she said. “And then I think, ‘I’m only 26,’ and I can tell I’m just going to need a walker and leg braces and stuff by the time I’m 40.”These days, to spare her joints, she said she avoids the pole and the raised stage around it. Instead, she roams the floor and looks for clients interested in a private lap dance.In the dressing room, the women joked and talked about the men they’d tempted that night. They talked about their kids football games, their legal troubles and the fact that the past week hasn’t been what they were told to expect.“The RNC has been the biggest bust in the history of being a stripper,” Eve said.On stage, the women did their best to make money. A dancer did a Sarah Palin parody in a blazer and rectangular glasses. She laid on her back on the octagonal stage, spreading her legs until one of her heels hit another dancer.The women cupped carefully-folded bills under the arches of their feet or held them in their panties. They leaned over and asked men to put them between their breasts.Money was always in plain view.On the jukebox, a Panic! At the Disco song played.“And isn’t this exactly where you’d like me? / I’m exactly where you’d like me you know, / Praying for love in a lap dance.”Christine said she thought about changing her look for the convention, buying a new outfit or applying special makeup the way many of the other women did. But she knew it wouldn’t be as good as the hype, she said, so she didn’t bother.For Christine, Wednesday was an average night.While Star got ready to dance, the politicians talked of rising up and moving forward. She didn’t watch.Christine thinks she has become a pretty good judge of character. And she knows that what politicians talk about is relevant to her as a citizen.But while she’s happy to make a convention guest believe he’s important for the length of a dance, she doesn’t think politicians are any more likely to be upfront with her.“I don’t think anyone genuinely looks at the nation and is like, ‘I can. Let’s see what we can do.’ I think it’s all, ‘what’s the next move? What’s the next chess move? How am I going to get here?’”Right now, she just wants to move on.She got three lap dances in before her break. She walked out the front door, past the men in suits who sipped beers while they asked the bouncers for directions back to the Doubletree Hotel.
(08/31/12 5:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>TAMPA, Fla. — When red, white and blue balloons and paper confetti fell on delegates and speakers in the Tampa Bay Times Forum Thursday, delegates and crowd members who packed the stands exploded into cheers they’d barely held back all night. Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney had just finished his acceptance speech, which served as the culmination of a week of speeches and celebration meant to galvanize the party’s candidates and platform. The day’s theme, “We Believe in America,” signaled a change in tone that shifted the day’s focus away from the faults of the current administration and toward the promise of a brighter future they said Romney would provide. “Everything that’s been said at this convention has been geared toward us,” IU for Romney Communications Director and senior Kenzie Carlson said. IU for Romney President and senior Rachel Rapp said each speaker did what was expected of them. “You can see each night the energy level increasing, the enthusiasm increasing, and that is what you want a convention to do,” Rapp said. Speaker after speaker spoke to Romney’s character — as a businessman and an economic planner, as a grandfather and an Olympic Games organizer. They highlighted his frugality, his experience and his pride in his immigrant father. And again and again, cheers rang out throughout the Forum. “USA. USA. USA.”At the urging of “secret” guest Clint Eastwood, there was another chant.“Mitt my day. Mitt my day. Mitt my day.” Eastwood spoke about his support for Romney, spoke to an empty chair he pretended was President Barack Obama and asked questions about national security. “What do you mean, shut up?” Eastwood asked the chair. The evening also featured a video about Romney’s family life, detailing the love story in a visual way Ann Romney’s speech, delivered last night, could not. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., spoke to Mitt Romney's character in comparison to President Barack Obama.“Our problem is not that he’s a bad person.” Rubio said. “Our problem is that he’s a bad president.”Rubio also talked about of Romney’s economic plans. “Life in America can be better than it has ever been,” Rubio said. Like many of the week’s addresses, those made Thursday night focused on jobs and the economy. Speakers included the former Secretary of the Massachusetts Department of Workforce Development, Jane Edmonds, who spoke about Romney’s economic policy during his time as Massachusetts Governor.But everything led back to Romney himself. “He is unquestionably an amazing steward and leader, a servant leader and someone whom I respect very much,” Edmonds said. And when he took the stage, Romney spoke to the idea that he, too, believed in America. After his supporters helped establish his ability, he delivered a message to keep them moving forward. “Now is the moment when we can do something,” Romney said. “Let’s begin the future of America tonight.”
(08/30/12 4:46am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>TAMPA, Fla. — During Wednesday’s proceedings at the Republican National Convention, Indiana’s delegates heard from speakers emphasizing the importance of change.Pete Seat, an alternate delegate and Indiana’s GOP Communications Director, viewed Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s acceptance speech from delegate seating just off the floor.Ryan’s message resonated with him most because of what he called his ability to appeal to young people. He especially loved Ryan’s description of fading Obama campaign posters, he said, because he knows many young people ready to vote for a new candidate this time around. All in all, Seat said, the nominee’s speech was “awesome.”As in the days before, the blue walls of the convention displayed a large, white message with the day’s theme. Yesterday, they read, “We Can Change It.”And change, the Republicans argued again and again, would come in the form of a new president.In his acceptance speech, Ryan drove home the theme of needed change and focused on themes of budget and economy.“After four years of getting a run around, America needs a turnaround, and the man for the job is governor Mitt Romney,” Ryan said.Mike Wolf, an associate professor of political science at IU-Purdue University Fort Wayne, said before Ryan’s speech that the candidate’s job was to establish just why change would be needed come Election Day.Ryan acknowledged that Obama was elected during an economic crisis but argued the president promised a recovery that never came.Wolf said the issues discussed weren’t specifically relevant to Indiana’s voters. Rather, Wolf said, speakers throughout the week have touched on larger issues like the economy in an effort to point out the incumbent party’s flaws.“Ladies and gentlemen, these four years we have suffered no shortage of words in the White House,” Ryan said. “What is missing is leadership in the White House.” Wolf said the speakers’ criticism at the convention is nothing new.“It usually is that the odd party has to cast the current situation in the United States as not the norm, that things aren’t going correctly in America,” Wolf said.Wolf said the convention’s tone had so far been negative, but not unusual. Speeches follow a somewhat formulaic approach, Wolf said.Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, drew cheers with his address.“We cannot afford four more years,” Portman said. “How about no more years?” “That part of the narrative is pretty usual for the out party,” Wolf said.Tomorrow, Wolf said, Presidential nominee Mitt Romney will shoulder the burden of establishing how he’ll create that change.
(08/29/12 4:51am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>TAMPA, Fla. — In his keynote address to the Republican National Convention Tuesday, Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., called for Americans to “stand up once again for American greatness.”Christie began his speech by recounting his history and lessons learned from his mother. He tied those lessons to policy.“Our leaders today have decided it is more important to be popular, to do what is easy and say ‘yes,’ rather than to say ‘no’ when ‘no’ is what’s required,” Christie said. To senior Chris Babcock, Christie’s remarks weren’t impressive.Babcock is president of the IU College Democrats. He said he was surprised by the amount of time it took Christie to mention Romney — 17 minutes, Babcock said. He said the length of time “certainly plays to the fact that he just hasn’t been the most likeable Republican of the bunch.”IU for Romney Chairwoman and senior Rachel Rapp disagreed.Rapp said Christie embodied the blue collar, relatable nature many Americans are looking for.“He was obviously a great person to set the mood for the rest of the convention,” Rapp said.She added although she’d heard initial fears that Christie’s message would focus too much attention on himself, she didn’t think that was the case.While Christie’s address was ultimately a call to support Republican Candidate Mitt Romney, many of the day’s speakers focused largely on the theme “We Built It.”It was posted in bold white on the blue Tampa Bay Times Forum wall, elaborated in videos and celebrated in song during the extended second day of the convention.The theme made reference to comments made by President Barack Obama during a July 13 campaign speech in Roanoke, Va.“Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive,” Obama said in the speech. “Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”Before Christie’s speech, Babcock said the president’s comments were taken out of context.“I find it interesting that they’re using it early on to set the tone,” Babcock said. “To me, what that shows is they’re willing to say or do anything to help propel Mitt Romney from the underdog status to winning the race.”But Rapp said, to her, the theme strikes a cord.“We have all been taught if we work hard, if we are persistent and we stick with our dream, we can succeed,” Rapp said. “If young people don’t believe that they can create their own destiny, then they lose all hope.”Rapp said Obama’s comments discredit Americans who built their businesses “completely on their own.”
(08/29/12 4:45am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>TAMPA, Fla. — In the crowded concourse outside the Republican National Convention floor, Nicolas Barbknecht stood with two other Indiana delegates.Though his bus arrived late, Barbknecht made it to the floor long before College Republican National Committee Chairman Alex Shriver declared his support for Republican candidate Mitt Romney.Shriver was blunt.“Barack Obama has failed young Americans,” Shriver said. “We’re out of jobs, we’re out of hope and we’re out of change.”At age 21, Barbknecht is the youngest of Indiana’s 46 convention delegates. By the time he saw the convention floor for the first time, the day’s proceedings had already begun. No surprise, Barbknecht said, but no stress, either.Like the threat of foul weather and good-natured barbs from older delegates, the Manchester University senior shrugged off his late arrival.He hadn’t gotten a chance to look at the day’s schedule, he said, but was looking forward to seeing Second Congressional District candidate Jackie Walorski’s remarks and the convention floor for the first time. As an active supporter of the party and former Indiana state chairman for the College Republicans, he’s no stranger to the politics of a party convention. He became politically active in high school and hasn’t stopped since.“This is the party that advances everything that I hold dear,” Barbknecht said. While Barbknecht took his seat under Indiana’s sign, IU senior George Thomas was working outside the forum. Thomas arrived in Tampa late Friday evening. As a volunteer with the GOP’s Caucus Operations office, he’s seen early mornings and late nights in the golf carts and checkpoints that make the convention chaos look like a neatly orchestrated event. “The amount of work and effort and resources that goes into these events is incredible,” Thomas said. “It’s astronomical.” Thomas helps coordinate the movements of the convention’s VIP guests. It’s a job he found through his friendship with IU junior Bailey Gerber, who works as the executive assistant to the RNC’s program director.Thomas and his golf cart recently helped transport the Romney grandchildren, car seats and all, back from a trip to the pool, Thomas said. Every day is different. He’s happily chatted with Secret Service officers and run into actor Jon Voight. While he is a Republican, his experience hasn’t been one based solely on party politics. Instead, he’s spent his time awed by the event’s magnitude. Unlike Barbknecht, Thomas isn’t affiliated with College Republicans. They’re too far right, he said, while he likes to come to the middle on some issues.“It’s not that I’m the biggest Republican,” Thomas said. “It’s more that I love the chance to be a part of something this big and this rare.”Depending on the circumstances, he said he would probably have volunteered at the Democratic National Convention if he had been given the opportunity. But, he added, “they probably wouldn’t want a Republican there.” For Thomas, the excitement of convention lay in seeing the culmination of his planning played out on a national stage. The strength of American spirit makes him proud, he said.“I’m political, I’m Republican,” Thomas said. “But that’s not gonna be the total focus of why I’m here.”
(08/28/12 4:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>TAMPA, Fla. — As day two of the Republican National Convention dawns in Tampa, Fla., delegates and media will turn to an updated “Order of Business” for Tuesday, themed “We Built It.” After Monday’s events were cancelled due to the effects of approaching Tropical Storm Isaac, much of the programming originally scheduled for that day was delayed.Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and presumptive vice-presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., are expected to be nominated during Tuesday’s session. Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, will begin Romney’s official nomination process. Nominating speeches by former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu, Deputy Permanent Convention Co-Chair and House of Delegates Member Barbara Comstock and Romney-Ryan Campaign Adviser Ron Kaufman will follow.Ryan’s nomination speech will be delivered by fellow Wisconsin native and National Committeeman Steve King. Official nomination will take place during the roll call of the states.Other speakers tomorrow include former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Ann Romney, the presidential hopeful’s wife, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the keynote speaker.
(08/28/12 4:46am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>TAMPA, Fla. — Just after 2 p.m. Monday, Republican National Convention Chairman Reince Priebus banged a heavy gavel on the podium of the Tampa Bay Times Forum stage. But nine gavel-bangs and 37 seconds later, the session ended in recess. Each day of the convention has a designated theme. On this day, the theme was supposed to be “We Can Do Better.” Tropical Storm Isaac put the first day’s festivities on hold.During a conference call Sunday night, Romney campaign spokesman Russ Shriefer said he was confident the phrase could be folded into the week’s remaining themes: “We Can Change It,” “We Built It” and “We Believe in America.” But beyond the official start and finish of the session, the day’s events were limited to the unveiling of a “debt clock,” which began when Priebus’s gavel hit the podium and will count the federal debt accrued during the four days of the convention. A second “debt clock,” also inside the forum, runs a tally of the total federal debt. Indiana Delegate Nicolas Barbknecht said he spent the day attending events, visiting with fellow delegates and playing euchre. Though he didn’t attend the ceremony, Barbknecht said he saw the day’s theme reflected in the clock. “That’s the alternative, that’s just an example, and that’s what we can do better than,” Barbknecht said. But for the five Ron Paul supporters lined up on the corner of Whiting Street and North Ashley Drive, just outside the Tampa Convention Center and Forum’s security zone, Rep. Paul, R-Texas, was the obvious answer. Though the two Swiss nationals in the group couldn’t vote, they said they’d come to remind those that could of the importance of Paul’s message. “The economic freedom is very important, and it prevents us from war and from poverty,” said Beat Trittibach, one of the Swiss protestors.A few steps away, Loren Spivack handed out copies of his book, “The Cat and the Mitt,” to those passing in and out of the secure zone. The book is billed on Spivack’s site as “a parody of the Obama administration based on a famous children’s book.” For Spivack, doing better would mean voting a conservative into office. But he said his goal, as well, was to reclaim humor for conservatives. “It’s a powerful weapon,” Spivack said. About a mile away, at the “Romneyville” protest camp outside the Army Navy Surplus store, protesters readied for a “March For Our Lives,” officially billed as a march for the homeless, poor and unemployed. When they took off south down Tampa Street, four of the Paul supporters from the corner of Whiting and Ashley showed up with signs in tow. As they asserted their idea of better with shouts of “President Paul,” a megaphoned marcher responded “President Paul doesn’t care about homelessness or poverty!”Corole Fields and Leonard Bryant of Palm Beach County, Fla., stayed behind. They were tired from the morning’s march, a little wet from the periodic showers and frustrated by the lack of water and bathroom facilities. For the couple, doing better is strictly the job of the sitting president, who they hope will be reelected. “He didn’t do as much as he could have or should have, I think, but he still is going to do better than Romney ever would,” Bryant said.
(08/23/12 3:38am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As Election Day looms, campaigns are pulling out the stops, and the prizes, to motivate much-needed volunteers.The Mike Pence for Indiana campaign recently launched Pence Corps, an online program that allows the gubernatorial candidate’s supporters to become “Neighborhood Captains” and compete against one another for stamps.Once volunteers sign up on the Pence Corps website, they can download an “incentive card,” where Pence staffers place stamps. Stamps represent different volunteer activities. One stamp equates to 100 phone calls at a “Pence Victory Center.” Walking in a parade with “Team Pence” would garner five stamps. Those stamps earn volunteers Pence gear, such as T-shirts, hats and messenger bags. Top earners are featured in a spotlight section the Pence Corps website. After the election, the volunteer with the most points will be rewarded a lunch with Pence. “As we near Election Day, we believe Pence Corps will serve as a way to harness our grassroots energy, engage new volunteers and reward our hard-working supporters for their efforts as they help to spread Mike’s positive, issues-based vision for Indiana,” Deputy Press Secretary and New Media Director Bridget Cleveland said. The idea of rewarding volunteers with points and ranks isn’t unusual, said Andrew Downs, IU-Purdue University Fort Wayne assistant professor of political science and head of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics. “Campaigns, no matter how much money they have, rely on volunteers,” Downs explained.At this point in the campaign season, Downs said, the focus switches from identifying supporters to finding and swaying undecided voters. Promoting early voting is crucial to campaigns, Downs said. “You can’t contact all of them with paid staffers. It’s just not possible,” Downs said. Providing competition and inducement, whether in the form of T-shirts or a free meal, helps place volunteers in campaign headquarters when they’re needed most, Downs said. The phenomenon can be seen locally at the Rep. Todd Young, R-9th District, campaign headquarters on East Third Street. Young runs local “Todd Squads” in every county in Indiana’s 9th District, including Monroe County. They’re similar to “Pence Corps” in the way volunteers earn points and prizes and the kind of activities that are rewarded. The ultimate prize for a “Todd Squad” participant is also lunch with Rep. Young. But while Young’s leaderboard is located in campaign headquarters, Pence’s online platform allows volunteers to see results from home. It’s a social media trend that can also be seen from national candidates. The Mitt Romney campaign has launched a “With Mitt” iPhone application that encourages supporters to “customize photos with a variety of Mitt-inspired artistic frames, add personalized messages and then share with your friends via email, Facebook or Twitter,” according to its description in the Apple App Store. But Downs also said sophisticated social media applications aren’t always a good return on a campaign’s investment.On a basic level, what Downs refers to as “inducement” could take the form of praising a certain volunteer during a group meeting. While Pence’s opponent, Democrat John Gregg, isn’t using a points system to reward volunteers, the campaign is relying on social media like Twitter and Facebook to involve supporters, Campaign Communications Director Daniel Altman said. The Gregg campaign released its first television ad last week, and Altman said they’ve noticed an “uptick” in social media interactions since that time. “Right now it’s just getting people excited and energetic about the campaign and getting them making calls and knocking on doors for us,” Altman said.
(08/20/12 4:04am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Six hours in, IU senior Tanner Bouchie had made about 400 calls. Each one began simply. Bouchie read from a script. He’d ask for a specific person and inquire if they wanted to take a five-question survey. He’d ask how they usually vote. Do they approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling his job as president? If the election were today, would they vote for the Democrat or Republican candidate in statewide senate, congressional and gubernatorial races? As a poll worker for Rep. Todd Young, R-9th District, Bouchie’s mission Saturday was to help the campaign better identify voters. It’s part of Young for Congress’ Get Out The Vote program, an effort to identify supporters and encourage them to vote early. On Saturday, the Young campaign participated in a nationwide “Super Saturday” competition to contact as many voters as possible. Down in the trenches, the competition took the form of local volunteers spending hours with their ears to the phones.“You can vote, and that’s certainly helpful, but you can also volunteer and really make a difference,” Bouchie said.Bouchie was one of more than 50 volunteers in Young’s offices in Bloomington and Jeffersonville, Ind. Combined, the offices reached more than 6,500 voters, Young’s campaign spokesman Trevor Foughty said. “We’ll compare our list to official voter rolls to find which of our supporters aren’t regular voters,” Foughty said. Foughty said the phone banks are run most weeknights and have reached an estimated 50,000 voters since workers began making calls early this summer. A leader board in the back of campaign headquarters on East Third Street showed “Todd Squad” rankings. There are squads in each county in the district to promote competition among volunteers. They get one point for 10 phone banking calls, one point for knocking on five doors and 10 points for an hour of volunteering in the office. Points help volunteers move up through the squad rankings. At 50 points, a volunteer becomes a “Todd Squad Private,” awarding volunteers a T-shirt. Jacob Walsh has made the rank. In 45 minutes, Walsh made about 100 calls. He has been working in Bloomington and at other Republican campaign spots for a few months. “On a good day, in 10 hours, you’ll do like six or seven hundred,” Walsh said. Sandy Hall was new to polling in the center. She spent four hours there Saturday. “Normally, I don’t get particularly involved with politics, but this year there’s no way I could sit home and say ‘not much I can do,” Hall said. “So this is something I can do.”
(08/13/12 5:59pm)
Three candidates for lieutenant governor will debate agricultural issues Wednesday at the Indiana State Fair.
(11/29/11 5:05am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Inside the Sleeping Room, all was quiet. Beyond the tapping of laptop keys and the slight rustling of textbook pages, the East Lounge of the Indiana Memorial Union was peaceful on a recent Tuesday morning. Some people were studying. As always, others curled in chairs and sprawled across couches in serene abandon, their chests rising and falling rhythmically, their slightly open mouths allowing the occasional drowsy sigh or muttered word of sleep talk to slip through. From their portraits on the surrounding walls, past IU presidents from Herman B Wells to Myles Brand watched over the sleepers. Though they camped out among strangers, the students left backpacks and laptops at their sides, unguarded. In their own worlds, they slumbered on. A little after 9 a.m., freshman Alexis Velez walked into the lounge. She had seen the nappers before but had always been too self-conscious to rest beside them. Now she debated whether to give in to temptation. What if she talked in her sleep?But she had less than an hour before her next class, Finite Math. Exhausted, she wondered if the potential embarrassment really mattered. The other sleepers were willing to take the risk. So Velez surrendered to the tradition that generations of IU students have embraced before her. She found an open sofa, let go of her vanity and drifted off.When she woke, someone asked if she’d been dreaming.Velez thought for a second. She’d dreamed, she said, of changing her Facebook status.“What did the new one say?”She smiled.“Best nap ever.”
(11/20/11 7:39pm)
Clouds were gathering overhead as I drove home on I-74. I was headed into a spring storm, the kind that comes on quickly on the interstate, and wanted to try to reach him again before it hit.
(10/04/11 2:46am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On Monday, a well-oiled machine was running at the Monroe County Justice Building. The docket was long with the weekend’s arrests.Upstairs, across from courtroom 301, Courts Programs Coordinator Lisa Abraham sat at a desk. To give an idea of the volume of arrests during the home-game weekend, she held up a stack of paper.“There were 75 people booked into the jail this weekend,” Abraham said. “To compare apples to apples, last weekend there were 48.”The police blotter showed arrests for offenses ranging from illegal consumption to battery to theft.“It didn’t seem like there was anything out of the ordinary,” Monroe County Deputy Prosecutor Bob Miller said.That afternoon, the courthouse processed many of the arrests at an initial hearing.***The defendants stood in the hallway outside the courtroom, shuffling their feet and murmuring to each other.Senior Aneesah Richardson and her boyfriend DaJuan Hamilton were among the first to arrive. They waited, sitting close to each other on a bench. They made a shopping list.A little after 1 p.m., the courtroom doors opened. The machine ran well, and the process was straightforward. Richardson was guided into the big open courtroom.She waited in line for the clipboard with her paperwork, which included a copy of the charges against her.Richardson was picked up Sunday just before 4 a.m.. She was charged with resisting law enforcement and public intoxication. She pled not guilty to the first charge.Hamilton was there to pick her up after she spent almost seven hours in jail.“I cried when I saw him,” Richardson said.“It was nerve-wracking,” Hamilton said. “I was just thinking, when can I get her out?”When the paperwork was collected, the bailiffs cleared the room. Defendants who weren’t eligible for pretrial diversion would watch a video explaining their rights, and those there for “moral support” would have to leave. Hamilton stayed.For as long as they could, parents and friends pressed their faces to the doors’ eight small windows, trying to get a look at those they were there to support. Eventually, the magnetic signs blacked out the windows.“Do not enter. Video in progress.”***The hearings with Judge Marc Kellams began after the video, around 2:30 p.m.. The room was packed again.The inmates in orange jumpsuits were first, the chains on their ankles jingling quietly as they made their way up to the front.“It was uncomfortable seeing them walk in in chains,” Richardson said.Richardson and Hamilton sat in a corner in the back row. They matched — gray sweaters, black pants, dark hair. Combined, the two students were missing women’s health, personal finance and IT management classes. They took turns trying to guess other people’s charges.“Most of the time, he was right,” Richardson said.After the inmates came those in plainclothes. As they approached the bench, the judge asked them about their charges and their plea and discussed their options for a lawyer.Some received a fine, a suspended license or jail time. Some will come back for another hearing.When Richardson was called to the bench just after 4:30 p.m., she was one of the last people in the courtroom. Hamilton asked to join her, and the couple stood side by side, detailing the nights’ events. Richardson’s charge of resisting arrest was dropped after she reviewed the police report with Judge Kellams. She went home with an $85 fine, plus court costs.
(04/29/11 3:55am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With sparkling shoulder pads and a healthy dose of skin, Miss Gay IU Legacy brought drag performance, burlesque and belly dancing to Alumni Hall Thursday. Plagued by debt and organizational difficulties, the annual MGIU drag pageant, sponsored by OUT GLBTQA Student Alliance, was pushed back to fall.MGIU Legacy raised funds to sponsor the pageant, tentatively set for September 2011, said OUT member David Sciscoe. Sciscoe competed in MGIU 2010 as Gothika Darling. “It changed my life,” Sciscoe said. And he wants to make sure the tradition continues. “It’s showing a younger community that you’re allowed to be who you want to be, and I wanted to save that,” he said. OUT is in debt, Sciscoe explained. The pageant’s organizers only had one booking for the show, Sciscoe said, and ultimately decided to scrap the spring pageant in favor of a fundraiser. The show isn’t just about drag. Reaching out to the larger campus and community has become a goal for OUT, Sciscoe said.Performances at MGIU Legacy varied. Different Drummer Belly Dancers followed four acts by the Bloomington Burlesque Brigade, whose nearly-topless dances drew shouts from the crowd. Amidst technical difficulties that seemed to stem from the sound system, emcee Vicki St. James encouraged the crowd to take it in stride.“We are going to make it funner,” St. James said. “Repeat after me — oh, hell no!” With each glitch, the audience’s cheers of “oh, hell no” could be heard throughout Alumni Hall. Former Miss Gay IUs from as early as 1995 performed as well. After finishing a performance of dancing across stage in a glittering, multi-colored body suit, reigning Miss Gay IU Ginger Ale talked with the audience.“This has been a very tough year for OUT, and it’s been a really tough year for me to be reigning Miss Gay IU,” Ginger said. “I wish I could have done more.”Ginger Ale said she didn’t have the opportunity to act as an advocate at GLBT panels and events as much as she had hoped. She encouraged the audience to further promote these events. “It starts with an individual person; it doesn’t start with a group,” Ginger Ale said. Miss Indiana Gabrielle Reed, who was invited to greet and perform at the event, said the event — and the cause it supports — are close to her heart. “Miss Gay IU has always kind of been one of my favorite events,” Reed said. Although not her official platform social issue, Reed said she has seen friends in the community struggle with coming out. She said MGIU helps promote a welcoming environment. “It’s a fun way to introduce people to something they’ve maybe never experienced before,” Reed said.
(04/27/11 4:32am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The line outside the IU Cinema stretched around the corner. The premiere of “Nathan and the Luthier,” the first feature-length student film to be premiered at the cinema, would play to a packed house. As senior Brian Myers waited in line for tickets, he said he was drawn to this film because of its production story. Myers is a senior in the telecommunications department and had seen posters for the premiere around campus. “In normal class, you don’t get to make a feature length film,” Myers said. Senior Jacob Sherry, the film’s writer, director and producer, didn’t do this for a normal class. Sherry, along with cinematographer Ed Wu, co-producers Sam Gurnick and Jon Stante and a crew made up of other IU students and Bloomington locals created the film here. The project also served as Sherry’s individualized major final project. As he waited in line, communication and culture associate instructor Matt Guschwan said he’d taught both Sherry and Wu in previous semesters. He showed the trailer in class and wanted to see the finished product for himself.“I’m blown away and impressed by the production values from the snippet I’ve seen,” Guschwan said.The film stars local actor Jeff Grafton as Nathan, an aimless middle-aged man who returns home after his father’s death. Nathan deals with the sadness of his mother, played by local actress Kate Braun, and looks for a violin-maker to repair the broken instrument from his childhood. Local actor David Wierhake plays the role of Luthier.In opening remarks, IU Cinema Director Jon Vickers said this film would open doors for future student screenings at the venue. “They’re going to be treated just like any other filmmakers we bring to the cinema,” Vickers said. A question and answer session followed the premiere. Sherry, Wu, Gurnick, Stante, Grafton and sound designer and Score Director Joseph Toth fielded audience questions on casting, production and score development.After seeing the finished product, Myers said he was struck by the film’s quality.“For a student production, it was incredible,” Myers said. “It definitely raised the bar.”
(04/21/11 3:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Just days away from the premiere of his directorial debut, IU senior Jacob Sherry is still in production mode. “Nathan and the Luthier,” directed and produced by Sherry.The film premieres at the IU Cinema on Tuesday and is the first student film to be screened there since the facility’s opening. “We’re incredibly lucky to have it premiering at the cinema,” Sherry said. The premiere comes before a week of IU student film productions May 1, 3 and 4. IU Cinema Director Jon Vickers said the product doesn’t really resemble a student film at all. Vickers rolled the dice by agreeing to screen the film before he’d even seen a finished script. After looking at Sherry’s “clip reel” of past work and fully vetting the young filmmaker, Vickers said he decided to go for it. And he hasn’t been disappointed. “Production values in his end product rival that of any major film school,” Vickers said. “Nathan and the Luthier” follows the story of a middle-aged man named Nathan, who returns home after his father’s death and finds solace while rebuilding a violin. Local actors, musicians and locations were used during production. The film is Sherry’s final project for his individualized major, filmmaking from directorial perspective. Sherry’s Individualized Major Program adviser and mentor Susan Kelly said Sherry’s determination and vision were essential to the film’s success. He doggedly tracked down resources, promoted the piece and had 15 to 20-hour photo shoots, all with the goal of producing a high-quality film at IU. “He has a passion and a drive to do something good, and other people feel it and they wanted to be involved with this project,” Kelly said. Senior Ed Wu served as director of photography and colorist on the project. Wu said he was finished coloring the film by mid-April and was relieved to be done.“It’s just great to have this project finally wrapped up after so many months and months of production,” Wu said. Sherry said the production team was wrapping up one last piece of the production puzzle: the score. The music is composed by Joseph Toth. The film features a soundtrack of original music by local musicians Carrie Newcomer and Krista Detor to provide an “extra emotional push,” Sherry said. Sherry said the collaborative efforts of his team won’t let him claim sole ownership. “It is my final project, but with all the community involvement I feel like it’s not really my film anymore, it’s the crew’s film,” Sherry said. Sherry described his plans for the film after the premiere.“A film’s life kind of begins after it’s made. Now that we’ve made this film, we have to figure out how we’re going to get people to see it,” Sherry said. But he has some solid ideas. Film festivals, contract shopping and sales on Amazon or Netflix may all be on the horizon. “We feel good about what we made, and we want to get it in front of the largest audience possible,” Sherry said.