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(10/26/12 4:20am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It might just be a Facebook picture of a bright orange pumpkin with a carved-out mustache to some, but for the Gregg for Governor Campaign, it’s another way to connect with voters.It might just be a couple dozen characters, but the tweets to Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock’s campaign for U.S. Senate offering outrage or support after Tuesday night’s debate gave voice to the viewers.The public might not have physical access to those on their ballots, but they do have a tool to throw in their two cents. Social media, as the name suggests, has the power to increase interaction between political candidates and the public. It’s a two-way speedway of sorts where campaign messages plaster followers, subscribers and friends as messages of support, question or critique are sent back, often in 140 characters or less.Kristina Horn Sheeler, associate professor and chair at the IU-Purdue University Indianapolis Department of Communication Studies, said social media is just one tool that campaigns are using to better connect to and interact with potential voters. And it’s helping them stay relevant.“If the campaign is not using social media, that will become more of the message,” Sheeler said. “That’s potentially going to translate into a candidate that’s behind the times or unwilling to change.”All the candidates in the Senate, 9th congressional District and Indiana governor races use Facebook and Twitter to reach voters. Interaction often comes in the form of political advertisement postings, appeals for donations and volunteers and pictures of the candidates as they meet constituents across the state.“The research shows that if constituents feel as though they’re being heard, that is a benefit to the campaign,” Sheeler said. “If campaigns use social media as a way to respond, it would be real benefit for the campaign on election day.”Social media posts often give the public a look inside campaign travel. Voters get to see U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, R-6th District, meeting with firefighters in Brownsburg, Ind., or U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-2nd District, talking about the Farm Bill with farmers in Greenfield, Ind.“Social media is in and of itself a humanizer,” Sheeler said. “Just by having that personal interaction and stating things from the candidates point of view, I do think it can add an air of humanity, personalization.”Sheeler said it’s not unusual to see Democratic candidates, who tend to pull in more younger voters, take advantage of social media.“It makes sense to go where your audience is,” she said. “It would make sense that Republicans, while they’re using social media, that’s not necessarily where the large percentage of their constituents are.”Nationally, President Barack Obama’s social media outlets have more likes and followers than Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Yet here in Indiana, social media lines aren’t as clear-cut.All Republican candidates for governor, Senate and 9th District have out-Tweeted their Democratic challengers and gained more followers. Same goes for Facebook likes, where the only close number of likes is in the Rep. Todd Young, R-9th District, and Democratic candidate Shelli Yoder race.But it’s not necessarily about the numbers, Sheeler said. More so, it’s about the possible engagement and interest such a tool can cultivate. She’s noticed an uptick of student interest in politics in her courses at IUPUI after she has students live tweet debates.“I think one of the things that social media does ... is allow regular people to participate in the political conversation in a way they may not have done before,” she said. “It’s just getting your options out there, even if they’re only 140 characters. I’m seeing a level of engagement in my students that I really hadn’t been able to tap into before.”
(10/26/12 3:57am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The three Indiana gubernatorial candidates debated for the third and last time Thursday evening in Fort Wayne. DePauw University Executive Director of Media Relations Ken Owen served as moderator of the hour-long debate between Democratic candidate John Gregg, U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, R-6th District and Libertarian candidate Rupert Boneham. Medical marijuana:Gregg:“I would oppose the decriminalization of marijuana...as for medical use, that’s something I would at least want to talk about.”Pence:“I’ve seen too many people become involved with marijuana and seen their lives sidetracked as a result.” Boneham:“It is a plant. If it will help the suffering of patients in Indiana, we should let them have that plant.”Science education/creationismGregg: Didn’t directly answer the question. Supports including more teachers, parents and school board members in the reform discussion.Pence:Didn’t directly answer the question. Supports giving parents more choices and teachers more freedom. Believes issues of curriculum should be decided by parents at local schools, not dictated from Indianapolis.Boneham:Would not support a bill allowing creationism education in schools, but supported finding outlets in alternative schools. “I want to keep science, science.”Education:Gregg: Supported developing state-funded early education programs. Pence: Supported nongovernmental early education programs. Boneham: Supported ending the I-Step test, restructuring grades to be based on progress, instead of performance on one test.Clean coal energy:All three candidates support moving forward with the development of a clean coal plant in Rockport, Ind. Local government reform:Gregg:Supports a more “inclusive” system of local government, avoiding “top-down” decision-making. Pence:Aims to develop a reformed framework for local government to consolidate functions. Boneham:Supports the decentralization of government, transferring more power to the counties. Fact Check:Economic health of IndianaPence said we’re the financial envy of the nation. FACT: From July 2011 to June 2012, Indiana’s personal income increased by 4.2 percent, compared to just 3.3 percent nationally. That made Indiana the leader of five states in the Great Lakes region and 11th nationally.SOURCE: Federal Bureau of Economic AnalysisAutomotive industryGregg said Pence voted against the auto bailout.FACT: Pence did vote against the Automotive Industry Financing Bill, which passed in the House 237–170. Pence said he supports General Motors did not want to put the financial burden on taxpayers. SOURCE: Votesmart.orgMinimum wage:Gregg said Pence didn’t support a raise in the national minimum wage.FACT: He called it excessive. He said the effects would actually increase unemployment and go against fundamental free market economics.SOURCE: C-SPANVoting record:Gregg said Pence’s record on passed bills he authored is 0-63.FACT: Gregg uses govtrack.us to cite this fact. However, that information is no longer on the site. It does show that of the bills Pence sponsored or co-sponsored, 68 failed while 21 simple resolutions passed.SOURCE: govtrack.us
(10/26/12 3:52am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Each presidential candidate is expected to spend more than $1 billion this campaign season.Closer to home, the campaigns of 9th-District Congressional candidates Democrat Shelli Yoder and Rep. Todd Young, R-Ind., aren’t spending anywhere near that amount. But there is a contrast in just how much each candidate brings in spending.The 9th District covers most of southern Indiana, including Bloomington. A breakdown of contributions to and expenditures of the Young campaign for quarter three, July 1 through Sept. 30, have not yet been processed. Yoder’s camp breakdown takes into account the third quarter of the fiscal year. Of Young’s 1,055 itemized individual contributions, 148 came from Bloomington residents. In Yoder’s camp, 184 of the 534 itemized individual contributions were from town. The Yoder campaign has collected $304,036 as of its quarterly filing Sept. 30. The Young camp trumps its opponent nearly 5 to 1, having raised $1,551,711 as of its Sept. 30 filing. While Young began fundraising in early 2011, Yoder started in February when she first entered the primary. In terms of spending, Yoder has spent $157,448 compared to Young’s $587,077. That leaves Yoder to use $146,588 and Young to employ $950,739.The top-two operating expenditures in the Young campaign have been $21,722 on finance consulting and $12,000 on survey research. Yoder’s top-two operating expenditures were $16,250 and $9,000 on Indiana Democratic Party prepaid salaries.None of these statistics take into account any money movement from the month of October, as the candidates have not had to file this month. Young began releasing a variety of television ads starting in late September, including spots on the Affordable Care Act and job creation. The camp has raised enough money to soon debut a television commercial in the Louisville, Ky., market and launch a mail campaign.Katie Carlson, Yoder’s campaign manager, said the Yoder camp stretched its dollars as far as it possibly can.“We do everything we can with the funds we have,” Carlson said. “This includes hitting the ground in public appearances to get the word out.”
(10/24/12 4:58am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The two candidates for the 9th congressional district met Tuesday night at Franklin College for the first of two debates and the only debate on a college campus. The college is located in a newly-acquired area for the 9th district, which was redrawn in 2011. Back in 2010, the 9th district congressional debates took place in Jasper, Ind., and in Bloomington. Democratic candidate Shelli Yoder and challenger incumbent Rep. Todd Young, R-9th District, talked about a variety of issues ranging from cap and trade policies to access to health care, but most topics centered around the economy.In the black-curtained room, Yoder shone on the stage in a bright red blazer. Young sported a blue shirt. Their back and forth lasted 90 minutes without any major “horses and bayonets” moments. Often, the two fed off each other’s statements, with Yoder frequently referencing Young’s prior stances about issues or voting record, and Young defending his past actions. Yoder said one of the biggest differentiations she made during the evening was about the topic of the deficit.“There’s the importance of addressing and lessening the deficit but not on the backs of the middle class,” Young said.Beth Boyce, a Young supporter and 9th District GOP vice chair, proudly sported a red, white and blue jeweled elephant broach.Though not affiliated with the campaign, the Greenwood, Ind., resident wanted to show her support for Young. She said she particularly enjoyed his answer to the question about the nation’s biggest security threat — the national debt.Young’s answer followed Yoder’s response, in which she said cyber security and a nuclear Iran posed the biggest threats to the U.S.“The representative had a much more detailed response to the questions and backed them up with specifics,” Boyce said.Franklin Mayor Joe McGuinness said he thought both candidates performed well. He was interested in learning about how the candidates would work with him in solving local problems and attending to local issues.“I need them to be my ears here and my voice in Washington,” McGuinness said.He had similar thoughts to Boyce on Young’s performance.“Congressman Young’s two years of experience in Washington showed through,” McGuinness said. “He was very clear and concise and to the point. He displayed a vast knowledge on the issues.”Among the crowd of individuals wearing Yoder stickers was Chris Brewer, a senior at Hanover College. As a member of Hanover College Democrats, he first heard of Yoder during the primary season last spring and has since volunteered for her campaign. He said Yoder did a good job of articulating how she’ll lobby for her constituents while in Washington.John Krull, director of the Pulliam School of Journalism, said Franklin College has hosted debates in the past, and that they’ve included active student participation, just as Tuesday night’s debate did. Besides acting as an education tool for students, the debate served a practical purpose of educating voters, he said.“As a public service component, this is a vehicle for the voters of the county to get a better look at the people that will now be representing them,” Krull said. The final debate will be Monday at Corydon Central High School in Corydon, Ind. WHERE THE CANDIDATES STANDThe role of the federal government in educationYODER: Keep public education a priority by strengthening Federal Pell Grants and Head Start program. Bring teachers to the table on education talks in Washington, D.C.YOUNG: More money thrown at schools is not the answer. Holding schools accountable for performances is a key, as is parental involvement.Environmentally friendly energyYODER: Supports cap and trade and green energy.YOUNG: Supports investment and basic research in green energy, just not federal government investment in individual companies.Women pay equalityYODER: Equal pay for equal work, regardless of gender. Economic recovery can be aided by paycheck equality.YOUNG: Agreed with Yoder and added that more women should be recruited into math and science fields.Planned ParenthoodYODER: Planned Parenthood is about access to health care for women and is a large issue of democracy. She acknowledged the difficult nature of the topic.YOUNG: Planned Parenthood provides many beneficial services but unfortunately includes abortions. States should have authority on the matter, not the federal government. He’s pro-life and pro-adoption and believes life begins at conception.On making change in WashingtonYODER: Said she understands she won’t change Washington, D.C., as a freshman representative and that it will be an uphill road. We have to find solutions down the middle to avoid extreme partisanship, a national security issue.YOUNG: Agreed that there needs to be less partisanship in Washington, D.C. Called for more details on policy issues to avoid playing politics and more exploration of common ground, such as on the topic of tax reform.
(10/23/12 5:37am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In their third and final debate Monday night, President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney discussed foreign policy.The debate, which took place in Boca Raton, Fla., was moderated by Bob Schieffer of CBS News. On many topics, such as drones, pulling out of Afghanistan by 2014 and supporting Israel, the candidates openly agreed with each other. “I think the president did a pretty good job talking about issues that came up,” IU political science professor Jeff Hart said. “I think Romney wasn’t completely on his game tonight. I think the most remarkable thing was about how he agreed on the same issues.”Hart said it seemed Romney was moving toward the middle of the liberal-conservative spectrum to attract voters in last night’s debate, and the topic of foreign policy allowed him to do so. Hart said Romney owns the topic of restoring America, but the president had the upper hand on issues of foreign policy.As for a winner, Hart said this debate won’t sway as many voters because people don’t care as much about foreign policy as the issues discussed in previous debates.---- LIBYAConflictThe situation in Libya stems from the Arab Spring and the violent Libyan revolution that began in February 2011. Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi was killed. Since then, the UN has recognized the National Transitional Council as Libya’s governing authority. On Sept. 11, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, was murdered, along with three other Americans, by armed insurgents who broke into the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya.What happened in Benghazi, Libya, and was there a policy failure?Obama: Obama said he did all he could regarding the Benghazi situation, putting focus on Libyan liberation. He said the Libyan people consider the U.S. a friend. He said military might is not enough, and he wants other countries to support United States anti-terrorism efforts and help protect religious minorities and women. Obama said nation-building at home is a priority to maintain American leadership. Romney: Romney said the U.S. needs to provide a comprehensive and robust plan to help the world of Islam reject radical extremism. He said economic and educational investment and establishing rule of law is the way to prevent this terrorism.SYRIAConflictThe unrest in Syria that some characterize as a civil war began in March 2011. With an aim to remove President Bashar al-Assad and his regime from power, rebel opposition fighters have fought the government and continue today, leaving behind tens of thousands of casualties — some the result of attacks on civilians by the government. The international community has been split in its support and generally slow to react.Should we reassess our policy on Syria?Obama: Obama said getting in involved in Syria’s internal conflict is a serious step that cannot be taken until the U.S. knows with whom it is working. The president did not support the arming of Syrians with weapons that could potentially be used against the U.S. He added his belief that Syrian President Bashar Hafez al-Assad’s days are numbered.Romney: Romney said it’s his priority to remove Assad from power, but he doesn’t want a military conflict there. “We don’t want to get drawn in,” Romney said. He emphasized the need to organize allies and other groups to take the lead against Syrian leaders. He wants to make sure they have sufficient arms to fight but ensure they don’t land in the hands of others.IRAN/ISRAELConflictIn August 2012, international nuclear inspectors reported Iran was well into development of a site for nuclear fuel production. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressured the Obama administration to establish “red lines” of intolerance for Iran’s activities, and Obama has not yet adhered to their request. Obama has emphasized diplomacy, but Romney has pushed for tougher action.Would you be willing to declare that an attack on Israel is an attack on the United States?Both called Israel the greatest ally in the region and agreed the U.S. will stand with Israel if the country is attacked. They agreed Iran is an enemy to Israel, and its nuclear aspirations must be stopped. Obama called on the collective pressure of the international community to compel Iran. He said the U.S. would take all options necessary to make sure Iran didn’t obtain a nuclear weapon if international pressure was ignored, but he didn’t elaborate on specifics. Romney characterized the president as weak on pressuring Iran. The two went back and forth on the progress of Iran’s nuclear capabilities and the proper degree of U.S. pressure. AFGHANISTANConflictThe war in Afghanistan, the lengthiest conflict in U.S. history, continues today. It began in 2001 with a declared initiative to end the power of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Since a U.S. troops surge in 2009, U.S. presence in the country has declined in recent years. Obama declared the U.S. will be out by the end of 2014, passing security responsibility to the Afghan government. What do you do if the Afghans cannot handle their security by the deadline for withdrawal of U.S. troops?Obama: Obama said the U.S. has achieved many of its incoming goals after years of forgetting why the U.S. was there in the first place. When mentioning homebound U.S. veterans, the president suggested taking care of the home front will be a priority after the withdrawal in 2014.Romney: Romney agreed with Obama that troops must be withdrawn by 2014. He said the Taliban presence in Pakistan will affect success in Afghanistan. As a holder of nuclear weapons, Pakistan is an important piece of the equation. He said going into Pakistan to kill Osama bin Laden was the right thing to do, but it has caused tension between the two nations. CHINAConflictRomney has criticized Obama for what he believes is the president’s weak stance concerning China’s growing power and unfair trade practices. He characterized China as a “currency manipulator” in the last presidential debate. Obama has filed complaints with the World Trade Organization against China, some of which have been successful. The president has acknowledged some jobs that have gone to China won’t come back.What does the current rise of China mean for the future of the U.S.?Obama: The president said working with China is a matter of ensuring the U.S. is a Pacific power, building relationships with nearby countries to increase international pressure on China. Obama highlighted his attempts to fight for U.S. industries against unfair practices by China.Romney: Romney said Obama was not doing enough to stand up for the U.S. He criticized China, stating the country has stolen creative and intellectual U.S. property and hacked into U.S. computers. Romney agreed with Obama’s statement that China can be both an adversary and potential partner if it plays by the rules.
(10/19/12 4:24am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Steps away from the discussion between Republican strategist Karl Rove and Robert Gibbs, senior campaign adviser for President Barack Obama, at the IU Auditorium, concerned citizens spoke out against the political system the duo represent.Speakers at the town hall style event argued the influence of individuals have been removed from democracy in the United States, replaced by elites of the private sector and huge sums of money.More than a dozen speakers took to the steps of Showalter Fountain, discussing a variety of topics including health care coverage and student debt.But most shared a common theme: privatization of democracy, through loss of the commons of labor and knowledge, has shifted the political power and voice from the people to corporations.Former Bloomington Mayor Tomilea Allison and former City Council President Charlotte Zietlow called the meeting to order. Both expressed concern that big money was running the current political system.Multiple speakers cited the Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, through which corporations are allowed to contribute unlimited funds to political campaigns. “Money is not speech and corporations are not persons that the Bill of Rights protects,” Allison said.The current political system ignores the real issues of the people, Zietlow said, and without discussion of real issues, the public is not informed.“The basis of democracy is to have people well educated and know what they’re talking about,” she said.At its height, the group swelled to about 100 people. Students passing by the fountain stopped, some for a few seconds, others for an entire speech.Freshman Taylor Hurt wasn’t sure what to make of the topics but was pleased the meeting happened.“People are getting their opinions out, and that’s never a bad thing,” Hurt said. “You can’t take things at face value and then you have to do your own research.”As night fell, individual speeches gave way to an open mic. One student, sophomore Neelan Scheumann, agreed with some speakers’ idea of eliminating corporate influence during election season. Scheumann said the types of ideas at the meeting were a high contrast from his conservative upbringing in Fort Wayne.“I don’t necessarily agree with all of it, but it is nice to have both sides of the issue to listen to,” Scheumann said.Bloomington City Councilman Andy Ruff, a member of the crowd, said a concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few is helping to rewrite legal foundations of the U.S. He said change can come when people voice their concerns, their issues.“It’s gotta come from the bottom up,” Ruff said. “Obviously, there’s not going to be a shining savior, Barack Obama or otherwise.”Ruff said he wanted to show solidarity with the town hall attendees and oppose the farce occurring in the auditorium. “I would like to see a citizen’s arrest of Karl Rove,” he said.
(10/17/12 4:52am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Tuesday night’s debate between President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney might have helped some undecided voters weigh their options. It might have strengthened other voters in their party choice.Yet not everyone is torn or committed to one of the sides. Some have skipped the pair altogether.At a meeting of the Young Americans for Liberty Monday night, 14 students sat in Ballantine Hall trying to figure out campaign slogans for a mock candidate of their creation, Obamney.“Either way, they win.” “Change we can’t believe in.” “The illusion of choice.”The composite candidate is meant to poke fun at the policies and leadership of Obama and Romney. To the group, it also represents a broken system, one without choice.Chris Spangle has been the executive director of the Libertarian Party of Indiana for the last four years. He said he doesn’t see much difference between the Republican and Democratic candidates or the outcome of their policies.“I really don’t care if a Republican or Democrat is in office,” Spangle said. “I don’t look at rhetoric. I look at results. If you look at what our government has done, you can’t say that either party has done a good job.”The Libertarian Party fulfills the role of a third choice, an alternative to the two-party system, what Spangle called an “irrational system.”Jillian Miers, executive director of Young Americans for Liberty, identifies as a Libertarian. She said it has been a struggle for her to defend her beliefs while many say she throws away her vote and should instead choose between the lesser of two evils.“Even strangers tell me, ‘You’re wasting your vote,’” Miers said. “That’s a weird thing, having people that you don’t know telling you that the philosophy you hold is a waste of time.”Young Americans for Liberty isn’t a Libertarian organization, but a sizable number of members tend to lean that way, Miers said. Either way, the two main parties aren’t cutting it for most members, though some will ultimately vote for Obama or Romney.“Deep down, we know there’s a realism that the Libertarian Party isn’t going to win the election, but we know it’s making gains,” Miers said. “We have a say, as well.”Libertarian Gary Johnson is seeking the office of U.S. president. He’s polled in the mid-low single digits nationally. In the Indiana Senate race, Libertarian Andrew Horning drew 7 percent in a mid-September Howey-DePauw survey. A more recent October poll by Rasmussen Reports ignored Horning altogether on its questionnaire. Spangle said Libertarians are on the ballot in many races in the state, a change from years past. Johnson will be on the ballot in most states, including Indiana.But viewers of the presidential debate didn’t see Johnson at the debate, nor will they at any nationally televised presidential debate this year.“I think the debate and especially the media coverage after the debates is just a spectacle in that they don’t really contribute to anyone’s understanding of the candidates’ plan for policies,” Miers said. “I think the debates are mostly just theater in that they are attempting to show people the personality of the candidates.”
(10/17/12 3:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor Vi Simpson, D-Ellettsville, spoke candidly of her passion for women’s rights and the dangers of electing her Republican opponent before a small crowd of 15 IU College Democrats Tuesday.She talked about her selection as gubernatorial candidate John Gregg’s running mate. She said it was hard to leave her role in the state Senate after 28 years, but she did so when she realized what was at stake if Republican challenger Mike Pence were to enter office.“But I don’t yet feel the urgency about the election from people,” Simpson said. “Maybe that’s because I’m on the inside.“Not knowing what’s at stake, that’s what’s bothering me, and I don’t know how to get across to people because of the difference in money being spent.”This money, she said, has allowed people to not really know Pence and his record as they should. She discussed how the negative style of campaigning has led to more attacking than real talk on issues, particularly in television ads.In third quarter campaign finance reports due Monday, Mike Pence led his competitors with $2.9 million raised compared to Gregg’s $1 million. Simpson said she wasn’t exactly sure how to get people excited and engaged in the race, but that supporters like the IU College Democrats would be of great help.“That’s why we’re so dependent on the ground game,” she said. “It’s really important to have people on the ground, phone banks going, knocks on the doors and that we get everybody to the polls.”IU Democrats Vice President Hillary Anderson said Simpson’s visit was a way to energize her liberal constituents in Bloomington.“We take politics from the abstract and something that students could feel removed from and bring it to their front door,” Anderson said. “If you meet the person that’s actually going to be on your ballot, it gives you a more personal and deep connection to the role you’re playing in your government.”Simpson addressed the economy, saying students she’s spoken to while on her tour of college campuses have expressed concerns about the job market. Another topic of discussion was education and her belief that Pence will be an opponent of Pell Grants and continue budget cuts of public education.The topic of women’s right’s became a focus of the address to students. Simpson shared a story that when she was younger, contraceptives were available only with the consent of a women’s husband.Citing Pence’s votes against the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act and legislation in support of Planned Parenthood, she said she can’t see how any woman could vote for her opponent.“This debate is not about abortion,” Simpson said. “It’s about your contraceptive. They’re after your contraceptive because they believe most contraceptives are abortion. I know everyone thinks I’m a screaming woman on this issue, but I’ve lived though it. I know what it’s like to have doors slammed in your face because you have a uterus and you might get pregnant.”
(10/16/12 4:56am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Night’s a time for the dancing Lorax. Jaxon, 3, is fixated on the little orange figure dancing on the big screen. Mouth open, eyes wide. He’s long cast aside the Spiderman mask he wore atop his head. Old news. Night’s also a time for homework. Denice King, 19, is a sophomore pre-nursing major. She likes hanging out with friends. She likes parties and concerts. And binging on episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy” into the early hours of the morning. But it's not about what she likes — or wants. Her main priority is raising her son, Jaxon.SHE'S FIXATED on a different screen, her computer, knee deep in Ancla, a Spanish assignment. She’s also answering emails and working on psychology. But that will all be put on hold when the movie ends. Then she'll make sure Jaxon finishes his dinner. They'll watch cartoons and splash at bath time. She’ll pick up the rest of her work after Jaxon falls asleep. She tries to tuck him in by 9 p.m., but that doesn’t always happen. He always seems to want just one more episode of “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.” She tries to be in bed by midnight, but that, too, doesn’t always work out.Night is a time for catching up. For escaping to the drama at Seattle Grace Hospital. For worrying about her nursing program application. For thinking about the future. For being a good mom to Jaxon.EARLIER THAT DAY, Jaxon pounds on his little brown drum. The music mixes with the cries of laughter, the clashing of blocks, and the whine of discord at the coloring table. It’s 3:35 p.m. in the preschool room of the IU Campus Children’s Center. This is Jaxon’s first month at the center. His first time being cared for by someone other than family.“Just coming from a family experience to a big group especially, he’s done very well,” co-preschool teacher Michiru Oleson says.Soon, Jaxon, in his little black Velcro shoes, moves on to Buttercup, the golden-brown class guinea pig. As he feeds her blades of grass, a much taller figure walks up behind the chestnut-haired boy. The young woman stands with her IU lanyard in hand. Her brown hair frames her pale face. Denice just came from Herman B Wells Library. She had some extra time for homework after her afternoon class was cut short. Play is over for now. So is Denice’s free afternoon. Mommy’s here. Time to go. HE'S IN CHARGE on the way home. “Let’s go, mom,” he says as he pushes on the big door.“How did you get here?” he asks, trailing behind her as she leads him to the car. “I drove here like I always do.”“Did you get gas?” he asks, opening the gas nozzle door and sticking his face inside. “You should get gas.”“Do you have money?” Denice quips. Jaxon likes to talk. “He never shuts up. Ever,” she says, ?laughing. She glances every so often into her rear view mirror. “He usually falls asleep on the way home,” Denice says. A lounging Betty Boop poses seductively from an air freshener hanging off the rearview mirror. Her black, red, and white Southridge High School Class of 2011 graduation tassel hangs there, too. Mom rides in front, sunglasses over her purple eyeglass frames. Jaxon’s in back, black wayfarers reflecting Bloomington as it passes by. DENICE GREW UP in Huntingburg, Ind. The second youngest of 10 children, she remembers siblings that both cared for her and fought with her.School was always a priority. It still is. But when she was in junior high, her image as the good girl who got A’s and stayed in to watch movies with friends bothered her. She wanted to make a change. In eighth grade, she met Ryan, a bad boy by junior high standards. He stayed out late on the streets of their town. He shook up her bookish life and helped form part of Denice’s new group she began to hang out with in high school. Her family and friends didn't approve. Then in the middle of winter her sophomore year, she realized she might be pregnant. She told her best friend. She told another friend just to get her to drive her to the pharmacy. Eight positive pregnancy tests later, it was confirmed. The condom failed. She was pregnant at 15. Abortion wasn’t an option. Adoption was a consideration, but she shot it down, too. She was going to keep it, and with additional support from Ryan, things moved ahead. Her family wouldn’t find out until the five-month mark. She was hoping it would just go away. ?Eventually, she told her mom, who made her tell her dad. He took it very hard, falling silent in disbelief when she told him. But the months passed, and on Aug. 31, 2009, Jaxon Phoenix Trambaugh was born. 9 pounds, 23 inches. DENICE NOW LIVES with Jaxon’s aunt, her ex’s sister, and the sister’s husband. She’s remained close to Ryan’s family despite the couple’s break-up their senior year of high school. Jaxon still visits his father about twice a month. “He didn’t get the big picture,” Denice says. “We didn’t want the same things.”Last year, she lived in Forest Quad as a freshman. She would have had to wait an additional year for family housing on campus, so in the meantime Jaxon lived with her mother in Huntingburg. Denice tried to make it home every weekend to spend time with her son, but it was hard.“That’s the number one thing I felt so bad about because I didn’t want her to have to raise him because it wasn’t her responsibility, but she was so helpful. I don’t know what I would have done.”She missed him last year when they were apart. Her mother couldn’t work Skype and phone calls were usually one-sided as Jaxon couldn’t yet talk. He occasionally called her Denice when she came to visit, and that hurt, she says. She felt like he was forgetting who she was. But her mom told her to have the college experience for the year and live like a normal college student, and that they’d figure out something for next year. “Not having Jaxon was good, but it was also bad,” Denice says. “I didn’t have a kid anymore, not technically, but pretty much.” It had been two years since she had days and nights to herself. “I was just free for once.”She went out at night. Out to parties, out to drink. She had a casual love interest. Mommy was off duty. In October 2011, Denice went out to a party. She came home to Forest, but never made it to her room. She doesn’t remember it happening, but police found her in the building’s stairwell and took her to the hospital. She remembers how upset her parents were. “That was even more disappointing than having to tell them, ‘Here I am with a kid.’” Her record has been clean since then. In fact, she says she has much of the “college experience” out of her system. Friends call her to hang out, but Denice usually stays home. She'd often rather sleep.“I feel like I push them away mostly,” she says. She hasn’t had a steady boyfriend since Ryan.“I feel like I can’t get a boyfriend just because I have a kid. That’s what I think, so I don’t look. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”"NOT LIKE THAT." He corrects her as she tries to set up his train set. That’s the latest. Jaxon loves Thomas the Tank Engine.“Somebody bought him Thomas DVDs for his birthday and I was angry,” she says. “He wants to watch Thomas all the time, and I’m just like, ‘This movie sucks.’”Jaxon plays on the plush carpet. The model train orbits him as he sits in the center of the track. It struggles ahead, batteries dying. He gasps. The train has stopped, caught up on the rails. Denice crawls over and gets the train back on track. Jaxon now occupied, she slips away to take her clothes from the dryer. “Jaxon,” she calls. He has clothes to take back to his room, but he doesn’t listen. He might miss the 25th go-around.?“Jaxon, I’m going to put your train away.”He zooms from the room.DENICE SPENDS a lot of her time studying, her GPA a constant worry. She’s trying to get into the highly competitive nursing program. Only about 60 of the 250 or so applicants are accepted each year. Denice’s grades last year didn’t earn her a spot, but she's trying one last time, this year, before she switches majors, or perhaps even leaves IU. It’s stressful to have to worry about that on top of raising Jaxon, she says, but overall she feels that her mothering is improving, along with her grades.“I just feel like I wasn’t here for him at the beginning, like last year and stuff. Now I can see that I’m better, but I feel like being a teenager makes you a worse mom just because you don’t know things. But I’ve always felt like a bad mother, but I guess that’s what keeps me motivated to do the best I can.” It’s not always ideal. She’s not always perfect, like the time she forgot to pack extra underwear for Jaxon when he had an accident at the amusement park. But she wouldn’t go back and change things. “This is the best thing that could have happened, having a kid,” she says. “My parents being so supportive. Me getting into the college I wanted to. Things have played out pretty well, even though I feel like my life sucks, but I know it doesn’t, thinking about it.” THEY TURN the page together. It’s 8:47 p.m. Bedtime. Jaxon wears his Thomas jammies to bed.“Where’s George?”“There,” he whispers, pointing to the friendly little monkey. The book is short, only a few pages.“I love when he picks short books,” she says as she puts the book back into the closet. After story time, Denice will finish up her homework. Maybe watch TV.“Give me a kiss.” She leans in. Jaxon first squirms and covers his face, laughing. But he stops, and she kisses him goodnight. “Goodnight, love you.”“Love you, too.”
(10/11/12 4:48am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>She first cast her ballot for John F. Kennedy in 1960. On Wednesday, the second day of early voting, Rae Stoll of Bloomington again voted Democratic. Stoll voted alongside her husband. She’s a regular early voter who doesn’t like the long lines of Election Day.“By the time we get into October, I know very well and I have known who I really want to represent me for president, Congress and in local races,” Stoll said.The whole voting process took about 20 minutes, from waiting in line to getting her identity verified to actually marking the many small squares on the ballot. Her husband moved a bit faster, voting straight ticket.It was 2:40 p.m. when the Stolls drove away, “Obama 2012” window sticker and all. They joined the 422 other walk-in voters that cast their ballots Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. That’s down from Tuesday’s 509. In 2008, 692 and 770 walk-in voters hit the polls the first two days of early voting. Larry Davidson, 70, was among those working the polls Wednesday at the Curry Building, 214 W. Seventh St. He wore a plastic, patriotic, starred skimmer hat as he monitored the forming line, about 10 deep around 3 that afternoon.Davidson is a retired IU mail truck driver. He used to travel between the Bloomington and IU-Purdue University Indianapolis campuses delivering mail. He also worked events for IU Athletics. A heart attack in 1995 led him to retirement, but he soon after started working the polls during election seasons. It’s been a good way for him to connect with the community he’s come to know throughout the years, he said.Meanwhile, four workers in the Curry Building were busy inputting more than 1,000 paper voter registration forms. The Indiana Public Interest Research Group delivered on Tuesday about 1,000 from its weekend push for registrations, said Ruth Hickman, election supervisor. The group’s season total came to around 2,000.Forms from IU College Democrats, which registered just shy of 4,000 during the last few weeks, and IU College Republicans, which registered several hundred voters this season, added to the more than foot-high stack of paper forms still needing entry into the system.
(10/11/12 4:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The men in waiting, the vice presidential candidates, will debate Thursday, but it might not make much of a difference in the end, Leslie Lenkowsky, professor of public affairs and philanthropic studies said.Thursday is the one and only time vice presidential candidates Joe Biden and Paul Ryan, R-Wis., will debate publicly. Following a presidential debate where the main takeaway was the future of Big Bird, the vice presidential candidates have a lot of potential ground to cover.Lenkowsky has studied presidential races for decades. He said presidential debates, let alone vice presidential debates, rarely have a decisive effect on the electorate.“The fireworks of debate are always fun, and good debates put on a good show, but ultimately, for the American voter, is just a piece of info in the large scheme of things,” Lenkowsky said.ABC’s Martha Raddatz will moderate the debate at Centre College in Danville, Ky. The debate on foreign and domestic policy will air at 9 p.m. on most major news networks. After last week’s presidential debate, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is up in polls. A Pew Research Center survey of 1,511 adults puts Romney four points ahead of President Barack Obama among likely voters, a change from a mid-September survey showing Obama up by eight points.“Biden is under more pressure than Ryan, not only because of the consensus that Obama had lost, but he didn’t put on a good fight,” Lenkowsky said.IU Students for Barack Obama President Jon Sutton said he’s looking forward to the debate as a chance for Biden to show off his foreign policy experience and help Obama regain favor in the polls. “Everyone can agree the first debate did not go off as well as the president and the vice president wanted it to go,” Sutton said. “There’s a narrative out there that Romney is running away with the race, but it’s anything but.” Vice presidential debates are not typically the most memorable. For that matter, neither are vice presidents. History records John Nance Garner, Franklin Roosevelt’s vice president, as calling the office of vice president not worth a “bucket of warm piss.”But these debates do, occasionally, leave their mark.In 2008, Biden debated then-Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Her debate performance was critiqued, even lampooned in the national media. Ryan has been known to debate, as he did with Obama on the topic of health care reform back in 2010. Daniel Cheesman, vice president of IU College Republicans, said Ryan will be able to hold his own in the debate, as long as he stays on point.“I think in this debate there’s going to be a lot more red meat thrown out,” Cheesman said. Biden also has a good deal of debate experience after years in Congress.“I think you might see much more aggressive Biden,” Lenkowsky said. “First of all, he’s naturally more aggressive because of his lengthy Senate career. He’s a pretty argumentative guy.”And while both candidates have been prepping for the debates, Biden has memorably blundered before in public appearances, like back in August when he said people would be put “back in chains”under Republican economic policies.“People’s gaffes are part of the process and they can always happen, but Joe Biden is pretty experienced,” Lenkowsky said. “It’s very unlikely he’ll put his foot in his mouth. It’s more likely when he’s talking off-the-cuff in a speech.”Lenkowsky said he expects the two to skip personal attacks and qualification questioning and instead focus on how they will each support and defend their running mate’s agenda for the country.Topics of the nation’s financial situation under Obama, Ryan’s ideas on Medicare reform and Romney’s 47 percent comment are likely to make an appearance, Lenkowsky said, while social issues most likely will not.Regardless of the debate’s outcome, close polling indicates a close election come November. “It’s ultimately going to be decided on which candidate is more successful on getting their supporters out,” Lenkowsky said.
(10/08/12 2:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Among the flurry of crimson and green on Homecoming weekend’s crisp Saturday morning, there was also blue. A blue mustache, to be specific.Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Gregg made a quick stop at the Homecoming tailgate before Saturday’s IU v. Michigan State game.“It reminds me of how long it’s been since college,” he said.Gregg, a 1976 IU graduate, spent time talking with supporters and undecided voters. It was casual. No formal speeches. No flyers or handouts. Just hand-to-hand greetings and individual talks.“The pre-game festivities really are my favorite part,” Gregg said. “I love the tradition of coming back to IU with families gathering with friends.”Gregg, in his blue fleece and black dress pants, wasn’t dressed like nearly everyone else at the tailgate. He was a dark blot in a sea of red. Even blue Gregg pins stood out on the IU fans decked out in red apparel.Mark Roberts, a 1974 IU graduate, headed the tailgate on the southwest corner of Memorial Stadium. Family and friends cooked out of the back of a forest green Chevy Suburban which sported blue “Gregg for Governor” signs. Gregg went to IU at the same time as Roberts, though the two didn’t know each other. Roberts later earned a law degree from IU and now works at a law firm in Indianapolis where he met Gregg.“He’s just a regular person who cares about people,” Roberts said.IU was the first stop of the day for Gregg. “I recognized your mustache,” said Richard Phillipy as he approached Gregg. Phillipy has taught English for 27 years at Lawrence Central High School.The two greeted and talked briefly.“He said some kind things to me about education,” Phillipy said. “I would have voted for him. He certainly needs the votes.” Gregg trails his Republican challenger Mike Pence by 13 percent, according to a recent Howey-DePauw general election survey.With less than one month until Election Day, Gregg wanted to bring his message to students.“The message for students is the same for all Hoosiers,” Gregg said.The economy, job market and debt are at the forefront of people’s concerns, he said.“Students tend to be moderate,” Gregg said. “But we like to remind students that I’m running against a pretty extreme candidate. He’s a Tea Party person.”After mingling with the tailgaters near Gate 3, Gregg walked around the stadium, a large white flag branded with the iconic blue mustache close behind.Jeff and Marie Mooney were making their way into the stadium when Gregg drew near. Marie approached him, extending her hand with words of support. “I wanted to encourage him,” she said. Her husband, a 1972 IU graduate, likes Gregg, too. “He doesn’t come off as another politician,” Jeff said. “He’s more like your neighbor.”
(10/05/12 2:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>They had to compete with the screeching of stopping busses, noise-cancelling headphones and instantly materializing text messages, but they made the best out of it.Student volunteers with the Indiana Public Interest Research Group stood in front of the Herman B Wells Library for four hours Thursday afternoon registering voters for this year’s election.The deadline to register is Oct. 9. INPIRG is dedicating 70 hours to the cause this week between manning voting tables, dorm-storming and questioning fellow students in classrooms. Nationally, the group is getting out the vote on 80 college campuses in 19 states.Jennifer Terrell, a fifth year graduate student, was helping students register for the second time this week.“It’s a healthy habit to start,” Terrell said. “For some, they’re not sure what to do.”Terrell said most of the passersby she encounters tell her they’ve already registered, often with a consolatory smile.The interactions in front of the library were short, only a few seconds long, as students hustled on their way.“Are you registered to vote?”“I have to go to class.” “I just did, last night actually.” “I’m voting absentee.” “I don’t have time.”But there were questions, too. “Do I need to vote here?” “What kind of documentation do I need?” “What county do I live in?”Sophomore Kaitlyn Ammons calls Dearborn County home, but she registered on Thursday afternoon to vote in Monroe County.She said she wasn’t sure about the absentee voting process, but her parents were going to fill her in.Ammons said she’s voting because things aren’t that great in the country. She’s leaning Republican, though she and her friends still needed to do their research.“We don’t really know what’s going on, but we feel like we should care,” Ammons said.Later, senior Inez Thomas made her way toward the bus, walking by Terrell.“Are you registered to vote?”She stopped and told Terrell she wasn’t registered in the state. Thomas just transferred from a school in Birmingham, Ala. She’s only lived in Bloomington for about two months, but she still wants to vote. “This year I wasn’t that impressed with either candidate,” she said. “I’d rather just stay with who I’m already comfortable with.” Terrell ended her shift at about 4 p.m. She had registered 13 people, and added her forms to the larger stack that would eventually be dropped off at the voter registration office downtown, 214 W. Seventh St., Suite 140.
(10/04/12 4:41am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Eighteen faces glowed in the darkness of the dorm lounge, illuminated by the cool-blue light of the television screen.Surrounded by Pizza X cups, open books and cell phones displaying Twitter and Angry Birds, these students on Teter Bosien 4 soaked in the back-and-forth of President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.This first debate landed straight in the middle of Homecoming Week and midterm season. Students, buried in homework and visions of weekend frivolity, set aside their work to hear the candidates go head to head.The two presidential nominees debated in Denver with Jim Lehrer, host of “Newshour” on PBS, as moderator.The two focused mainly on domestic policy, specifically taxes, health care reform and employment.“I had five seconds before you interrupted me,” Obama said to Lehrer about halfway through the debate, flashing a wide smile.The sound of “ohhs” filled the darkened room. Obama had just called him out.The students watched in silence, with the occasional comments muttered under their breaths.“He looks like such a creeper,” one girl said of Romney’s face as he entertained Obama’s comments.“We need a commercial break,” said a boy, Angry Birds flying on the phone in his lap.Two freshmen in the room, Ian Boyd and Kendall Ebley, often discuss politics. Even though Boyd leans to Obama and Ebley to Romney, she said she enjoys their playful banter.“It’s difficult because it’s making you think about what you have learned,” she said. “But it’s definitely healthy.”They watch as the tax talk ends and health care discussion begins.“OK, here we go, guys,” Ebley said to her floormates. “It’s going to get heated.” Down the hall, sophomores Audra Kriauciunas and Katie Bunch watched the debate in silence in Bunch’s dorm room.White notebooks filled with notes accompanied Kriauciunas on the bed.“I’m trying to multitask,” she said. “The homework is winning out right now.”She’s registered to vote back home, or so her mom told her. Tonight was her first lesson, but she finds it hard to find the facts and get past some of the terms she doesn’t understand.“I just want to know the facts, the truth and not opinions,” Kriauciunas said.Down in the Teter library, a smaller group of seven watched the debate on a large flat-screen.It’s freshman Angela Gerlach’s first presidential election, and she’s geared up to vote. She was also torn between studying for a test and watching the screen. She at least wanted to make the effort, she said. “I’m concerned about the future of this country,” Gerlach said. “If people start arguing about things, I want to start arguing for my side with correct facts.”The small group laughed at Romney and Obama’s early jibes at each other.“What a dick,” said Holly Hoblit, a freshman passerby in the library. She wasn’t happy with the way Romney squeezed in a final comment into Obama’s timed statement. Turns out, Hoblit plans to vote for Romney. He’s the lesser of two evils.“The only reason I registered to vote is to be able to help change our country,” Hoblit said. “I don’t really like either of the candidates, but I guess I have to pick between the two.”Her friend, freshman Haven Wegesin, can’t vote. She didn’t watch the debate, either.“I can’t do anything about it, so I’m not going to get angry about it,” Wegesin said. “It’s not my fault when shit goes down.”
(10/03/12 4:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Voting is a privilege.In this country, it's also a right.Citizens exercise their right to vote for a new leader every four years. After weeks, even months of political advertisements, debates and rhetoric, it all comes down to an intimate moment in the voting booth, shrouded in solitude. The main challenges in the student vote, or any vote, are getting people registered, educated and transported to the voting booth.Elections inspire various partisan and nonpartisan organizations to register students and get out the vote. Here in Monroe County, the student vote is significant. Granted, not all students vote, but there is power in a concentrated and potentially passionate voting group in Bloomington.Yet, these additional voters pushed President Barack Obama over the edge in the 2008 election, turning Indiana blue for the first time since 1964. It’s also these votes that help elect our local politicians. Students vote, often driven to the polls by national candidates and policies, but there are also local, lesser-known candidates.The power of the student vote spawns differing philosophies about how to approach students’ ability to vote in local races.The Local VoteVivien Bridges, the 2012 Republican candidate for Monroe County auditor, is making the case for an informed student vote. She ran for the same position four years ago and believes students cost her the election by voting along party lines, by voting a straight ticket.“It was a hard tide to reverse,” Bridges said. “It was very, very difficult to reverse the Obama tide.”She lost her individual race, but the bigger issue, she said, is the unintended effect the student voting block can have locally. She said there’s a record of corruption and error in the auditor’s office during the current administration, evidence of the danger of the student vote. Republican Skip Daley is a first-time candidate for Monroe County Council at large. Awareness is key to voting locally, he said.Confronting the idea of a GOP effort to prevent students from voting, both Bridges and Daley said they want students to vote — just knowledgeably. “There’s nothing wrong with voting at that young age,” she said. “I just wish they would be cautious about the way they vote locally.”For Bridges, caution translates to having knowledge. She has a simple message.“Either stay away or be informed,” she said.The informed voter argument, particularly in regards to local voting, doesn’t hold water for Rick Dietz, chair of the Monroe County Democratic Party. “I don’t see that as being different from any other group of voters, not just here in Bloomington,” Dietz said. “People generally pay a lot more attention to national politics more than local.”IU College Republicans President Hilary Leighty, who’s registered in Monroe County, said educating students is one of the hardest parts of the process. This challenge is worth the effort, she said, because of close races in the state, such as the Senate race that can be affected by the student vote. When it comes to IU students, the question of voting locally is tied directly to the interpretation of residency. Bridges also highlighted the transient nature of students and their ability to influence a place where they live temporarily.“Where are these students who voted four years ago?” she said. “I bet half of them aren’t even on campus. But they’ve left the auditor’s office in trouble.”Most students only experience one national voting cycle during their time at IU, yet the officials they help elect remain serving in Bloomington even after they’re gone. Dietz acknowledged this fact, but also said IU students earn their right to vote here.“I don’t subscribe to the notion that the student population is different from any other group within our county,” Dietz said. “They live here. Many of them have jobs while they’re here, and they contribute while they’re here. And they, by right, should have a say in our democracy.”Daley agrees that students have the right to vote. In fact, he said he wants more students to register. But he’s not sure how connected students feel with the Bloomington community.“Because of the residency, they might feel a disconnect with the local community,” Daley said. “They might not feel the responsibility to reach out and learn what’s going on in the community that they might feel is temporary.”Regardless of student sentiment, they are registering to vote. From May 22 to last Friday, some 2,738 new Monroe County voters have been registered. Additionally, 5,087 existing voters have updated their information in one way or another. While these statistics from Election Supervisor Ruth Hickman include registrations from the entire county, Hickman said students at IU certainly make up the majority of new registrations.Parties and perceptionIn 2008, 66 percent of voters less than 30 supported Obama. This marked the largest gap between young and old voters since exit polling began in 1972, according to the Pew Research Center.Here in Indiana, youth voting as part of the total amount of voters increased by five percentage points from the 2004 to 2008 elections, the biggest change of any state, according to NBC News exit polling. Students turned out to vote in the last presidential election more so than in the past, and their votes leaned Democrat. Republicans are aware of this fact, and it affects their view of campus. It also has them aware of the connection, real or perceived, between the national parties and local candidates.“We do our best to indicate to students and the rest of the community that there is a connection between the local candidates and the national candidates,” Dietz said.He said voters’ best bet is to cast their vote for their party of choice at the local level.“The point that I’m trying to make is politics is a team sport, and each team has a different set of values, but those values carry through from the top to the bottom,” he said.Daley disagreed. Many local government positions don’t touch on large national issues, so why vote for local candidates based on those issues, he argued.“To make a local decision based off a letter someone has after their name is a disservice to themselves and their right to vote,” Daley said. “Get out there and learn who the candidates are, what the issues are, and see if there is a candidate on that side of the issue who will best address the issues of that particular office.”Bridges said she believes the campus won’t vote as strongly liberal as it did in 2008, but she still said being a Republican in Monroe County, particularly in Bloomington, isn’t the easiest.“It’s very hard for me to work as a Republican on campus,” she said. “That’s all there is to it.”She characterized the Democrats’ vigorous efforts to register students as playing to their strength.“They know where to go to for their votes, let’s face it,” she said.That said, she acknowledged efforts by IU College Republicans to gather campus conservatives.Leighty said there is definitely a stereotype on campus of the liberal college student.“I think it’s a huge stereotype, and that’s unfortunate,” she said. “There are Republican students on the campus.”And while there are impassioned students on both ends of the political spectrum, Michael Grossberg, director of the Political and Civic Engagement Program, said he suspects most students don’t place themselves firmly in one camp or another. “I would think that most people on campus don’t think of themselves in terms of a party because it’s not their self-definition because they’re not likely to be voting and they’re not likely to be very engaged,” Grossberg said.Getting to the pollsOut of sight, out of mind goes the saying. Back in 2008, the Indiana Memorial Union served as a voting location for the primaries and School of Public Health had polling station booths for the general election. This year, the campus satellite voting site has moved north to Assembly Hall. The move, decentralizing campus early voting, was an outcome of compromises between Republican and Democratic Monroe County Election Board members.At least one effect is already clear — votes are down.Linda Robbins, Monroe County Clerk and secretary of the Election Board said numbers from the primary election last spring were down for the on-campus site compared to the 2008 primaries.Dietz said he wasn’t pleased with the move of the early voting site to Assembly Hall.“I don’t think that it serves the purpose of being an acceptable satellite voting site on campus,” he said. “I think everybody recognizes that as a practical matter it’s on the outskirts of campus.”He doesn’t know for sure what the effects may be of the move. He simply pointed out that Assembly Hall does not draw near the foot traffic as the IMU or the School of Public Health building.Senior Colleen Dobry, media coordinator for INPIRG, a student-directed nonprofit, said the registration effort between the organization, IU College Democrats and the IU Student Association has totaled just less than 3,000 new registrations.Dobry said it’s not always the easiest job to catch people’s attention to register, let alone vote.“I don’t understand why the polling places aren’t on campus,” she said. “I don’t understand why it’s just not at the IMU in the middle of campus.”Instead, groups like INPIRG, IU College Democrats and IU College Republicans have been out on campus soliciting registrations. “It’s up to groups and student organizations across campus to encourage students and remind them that they should go do it,” she said.
(10/03/12 2:41am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The United States Senate race is a dead heat between contenders Republican Richard Mourdock and Democrat Joe Donnelly, just as it was in mid-August.Donnelly leads Mourdock 40 percent to 38 percent among likely voters, though the survey’s 3.5 percent margin of error suggests a virtual tie, according to new September statistics from the Howey-DePauw general election survey.The Howey-DePauw survey sampled 800 people between Sept. 19-23. Only 10 percent of respondents were ages 18-24. Sixty percent of those surveyed were older than 45. The vast majority, 88 percent, was Caucasian. The largest demographic, self-identifying moderates, made up 35 percent of the sample. Libertarian candidate Andy Horning showed a 7 percent share, a likely pull from Mourdock votes.This deadlock mirrors mid-August, when a similar survey released by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce showed Mourdock leading Donnelly 41 percent to 39 percent. At that time, only 3 percent supported Horning.This tight race bucks the trend of notable Republican leads in other races across the state.Gubernatorial Democratic candidate John Gregg trails behind competitor Rep. Mike Pence, R-6th District, 34 percent to 47 percent. The Libertarian in that race, Rupert Boneham, took 5 percent.And in a change from the last election, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney handily leads President Barack Obama in Indiana 52 percent to 40 percent.The survey didn’t just ask questions regarding the vote. It also looked at favorability and name recognition. Republicans led their Democratic competitors in those elements. Mourdock narrowly beat Donnelly in favorability 26 percent to 24 percent, while Pence similarly led Gregg 39 percent to 20 percent.Thirteen percent of those surveyed didn’t know who Mourdock was compared to Donnelly’s 21 percent. Forty-five percent did not recognize the name Gregg, a far cry from Pence’s 19 percent.At the same time, while boasting higher levels of name recognition, Republicans Mourdock and Pence had higher unfavorable impression ratings than their Democrat competitors, 32 percent and 18 percent respectively, compared to Donnelly’s 21 percent and Gregg’s 11 percent.
(10/03/12 2:39am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>More students today are defaulting on student loans within two years than at any time in the past decade, according to new numbers released by the U.S. Department of Education. Student debt is rising as college tuition continues to skyrocket.With this in mind, a new legislative proposal is in the works that would help middle and high school students better learn about and manage their finances now and in the future.Indiana Sen. Brent Waltz, R-Greenwood, and the Indiana State Teachers Association recently announced a proposal that would establish financial literacy curricula throughout the state.“Our goal is to provide Hoosier students with the best education possible and give them the tools needed to be responsible members of society,” Waltz said in a press release. “Equipping future generations with financial knowledge will help them make informed decisions.”Waltz, a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Economic Development, will author the bill to be introduced when the 2013 legislative session begins in January. He will work with state banking leaders to determine which financial skills students seem to lack. It will seek to implement financial literacy coursework in grades six through 12 with goals of understanding credit, debt, saving, investing and planning. The bill would also outline means of financing and developing such additional coursework.IU announced a financial literacy initiative during the summer with the aim of giving students the knowledge they need to leave college without excessive debt.Phil Schuman, director of financial literacy at IU, said the initiative was spurred by many factors, including the recession, increased tuition and increased social costs in college.“It’s gotten to the point that we’re learning that students don’t have a very solid financial foundation,” Schuman said. He said IU efforts should start this fall and will include a website, workshops and seminars on campus to help students learn how to manage their money. “It’s not getting students to stop spending money, but making students more aware of how they spend their money,” Schuman said.The IU program targets students who most likely have already taken on a financial burden. Gerardo Gonzalez, dean of the School of Education, said he thinks the topic isn’t valued enough, particularly at the pre-college level.“Just like planning for college really begins in middle school and certainly high school, I think that, in the same way, financial planning and understanding the financial dimension of college should begin before students go to college,” Gonzalez said.Schuman said a yearly reinforcement of financial responsibility would help Hoosier students do better later in life.“That’s a good lesson to learn early on in life, but it should be reinforced every year in life,” Schuman said.Gonzalez supports the idea, but given the current curriculum restraints in the state, he said he hopes the legislative proposal would not mandate the addition of a new class.“I think a financial literacy aspect can be dealt with in the subject areas that are already taught in the high school curriculum,” Gonzalez said.With decreased state funding for public universities a continuing trend, costs will be passed to families, necessitating these financial literacy skills.“As more and more of that responsibility falls on the students, the more they know about how to mange that process and the finances as to not get over their heads, it’s only going to help,” he said.
(09/28/12 4:08am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>About 16 percent of state residents — 1,011,017 Hoosiers — live in poverty.That’s up from about 962,000 last year, according to numbers by the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Monroe County is the Indiana county with the highest poverty rate, and Bloomington is feeling the effects. Derek Thomas, policy analyst with the Indiana Institute for Working Families, cites a lack of effective policy and poverty prioritization by state government as part of the reason the number of impoverished Hoosiers jumped to more than 1 million.“There’s a million people in poverty in Indiana,” Thomas said. “Politicians aren’t talking about it.”Thomas cited the idea of a social safety net, composed of programs that assist Indiana families through economically challenging times. He said this net is lacking. “(We should be) improving on public policies in the state that support Hoosiers during these hard times,” he said. “We’re not out of the woods yet. Our economy is still changing, and we still need those safety nets.” And while the state continues to operate in a budget surplus, which Thomas called a function of government that receives high media attention, Thomas finds the health of families in the state to be more interesting.“I think they’re disconnected,” he said. “There’s a completely different story when looking at the economic health of our families.”The Shalom Community Center, a Bloomington resource center for individuals experiencing homeless and poverty, has seen an increase in the number of meals served. Forrest Gilmore, executive director at the center, said this is a simple indicator of community need. About 96 percent of the center’s clients are in extreme poverty, defined as any individual making less than 30 percent of the average median income in the state.So far this year the center has seen a nearly 15 percent uptick in meals served, and is on track to serve about 84,000 meals by the year’s end. The increase builds upon a 15 percent increase observed from last year. “We’re well on pace to serve the most meals we’ve ever served,” Gilmore said. “We’re definitely seeing that impact here in our community.”The number of individual case management clients has increased, too, up about 10 percent this year to 1,406 individuals.Jake Bruner, director of development and administration at Hoosier Hills Food Bank, also noticed the increase.Its mobile food pantry that services Lawrence County has seen anywhere from 30 to 50 more people seeking aid in recent months.In Bloomington, inventories of food are depleted faster, as donations continue to fall and demand increases.“We’ve had to make more and more food purchases and increase communication with other food banks,” Bruner said.Gilmore at Shalom said 2009 was the high point of need in Bloomington for the center, as the recession was first wreaking havoc on the country. Three years later, the center is on pace to meet, if not break, 2009 records of need.“What’s tragic is the stimulus provided quite a bit of funding to keep people in their homes, but that funding has run out,” he said. There’s usually a lag time of about three years between homelessness and a major recession, Gilmore said.“It’s potentially a really bad year with the loss of homeless prevention dollars from the stimulus and the lag time with a major economic crisis,” he said. “This is potentially going to be a rough year.”
(09/26/12 4:04am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Questions of safety, cost and Indiana code interpretation still headline the debate on a current City of Bloomington proposal to effectively ban battery-operated smoke detectors in rental units.The proposed ordinance is just a small fraction of the much larger Property Maintenance Code. The proposed ordinance is also the part that seems to be garnering the most attention, particularly with a certain sector of the business community — property owners. Many property owners believe the city is overstepping its authority by mandating the installation of hardwired, interconnected smoke detectors, which are directly connected to the building’s electrical system. The city believes it is following state laws by mandating such an ordinance. These two requirements would increase safety in rental units, the city argues, saving property and lives. The city realizes the proposal won’t end the problem, Assistant City Attorney Patty Mulvihill said.“We’re not expecting perfection,” Mulvihill said. “The city does not agree that this is the magic bullet. It’s not going to prevent every fire or save every life.”Rental owners, including Nikki Johnson, CFC Properties vice president of residential real estate, are questioning whether hardwired smoke detectors really are the safest option.Johnson said after doing some research, she’s not sure hardwiring is necessarily the best option for powering smoke detectors in terms of safety. She also suggested the city look into the benefits of photoelectric and ionization, two different technology types in detectors.“I just want to make sure they have done their due diligence and done their research,” she said.Mulvihill said the city has found conflicting reports on the benefits of photoelectric versus ionization detectors, but that hardwired units are definitely harder to disable and thus are more effective.John Drengenberg, electrical engineer and consumer safety director for Underwriters Laboratory, said UL has no official preference when it comes to battery-operated versus hardwired units or photoelectric versus ionization technologies.“Both do work,” Drengenberg said. “They meet the standards. They give you adequate warning to evacuate the house. I can’t take sides there.“The advantage of the hardwired, though, is that you don’t have to give it as much attention as you would with a battery type.”He also said these types of alarms are also more difficult than battery-operated units to disable.Drengenberg said ionization alarms might sound quicker in instances of flaming fires, whereas photoelectric units notify quicker in cases of smoldering fire.“Knowing that one type works a little faster, the recommendation is really twofold,” he said. Drengenberg said the best way to stay safe is to install one of each type of alarm or to install dual alarms.He agreed that interconnected detectors, which the city is proposing, are a good idea. Mulvihill also said the interconnected units could reduce evacuation time.“The reason you want interconnection is you want early detection,” she said. “The key is early notification. The sooner you are notified, the sooner you can get out.” Another concern is money, but that’s just a side issue, Johnson said. “From CFC’s perspective, if we believe it’s truly making things safer and if the city has followed the proper procedure to putting an ordinance in place, we’ll absolutely do what we have to do.” At this point, Johnson and other property owners supported by the Indiana Apartment Association have attended the city’s public feedback sessions. The final session before the proposed code goes to the Bloomington City Council is at 4 p.m. Oct. 2 in the Council Chambers in City Hall.Mulvihill said the city understands that this ordinance will cost the property owners, but that in the interest of safety, it is worth it. “The city’s administration is very cognizant and respectful of the fact we’re asking property owners to expend more money than they normally do,” she said. “But the city administration’s job is not just to weigh expenditures of business owners, it’s also to weigh the health and safety of community members. That cost is worth possibly saving lives and property.”CFC alone will have to retrofit 452 of its 640 Bloomington apartments at a cost of about $218,000.Johnson took offense at the idea that rental property owners don’t care about student safety, only expenses.“And there is a cost factor,” she said. “I know it comes across as the owners not being sympathetic to safety, but that is simply not the case. There is no owner that wants a fire in the building or someone to be hurt in a fire, but cost is a factor.”
(09/21/12 3:41am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The 2013 budget for the City of Bloomington leaves the city with a $788,657 deficit, but a new one-time tax and proposed fee and fine increases are set to make up for the shortfall.As announced last spring, an error by the Monroe County auditor Amy Gerstman caused the city to fall short of its expected property tax revenue total by $377,930.At last week’s Bloomington City Council meeting, Mayor Mark Kruzan urged the public to remember that about half of the city’s deficit was made up of this error and that those monies would be recovered this year, pending approval.City Controller Mike Trexler, part of the team in charge of preparing financial reports for the city, noted that the shortfall is just a small chunk of the approximate $27,000,000 total property tax levy the City of Bloomington collects, but is noteworthy nonetheless.Tax-exempt properties such as hospitals and some IU properties were included in the calculation of the certified net assessed valuation, or the total worth of Bloomington properties. The city uses this county-provided value to help determine its property tax rate for Bloomington residents.When used in the tax formula, this inflation lessened the tax rate, giving Bloomington taxpayers a slight break on this year’s tax bill. This year’s tax increase will balance out that break and help reverse the deficit.“Any additional (money) they will be paying this year they saved last year,” Trexler said.Put simply, this excess levy would translate into small dollar increases in next year’s tax bill.For example, on a $100,000 home, someone would have paid about $780 total in property taxes for the year. Additionally, they would pay about an extra $11 next year.The tax rate in 2012 was .7800 — a little less than a penny — per $100 of assessed evaluation. The publicized proposed rate for 2013 is .9034. Trexler said the published rate, submitted for public consideration before final approval, is higher than he expects it to actually be and estimates an actual rate of just less than .8000. Local governments often publish higher-than-expected tax rates as a precaution, as they cannot charge more than the published rate.Trexler is seeking approval of the Department of Local Government Finance to impose this one-time excess levy and should find out if it is approved by early next year, he said.Trexler expects the levy to be approved, as it is in accordance with state laws. Another proposed deficit-reducing method is to increase some violation fines and selected service fees provided by the city.Many of these fees have not been updated for decades, said Patty Mulvihill, assistant city attorney, at the meeting. She also said these fee increases were proposed for a variety of reasons, through which by-product fees would indeed help the deficit.These changes were proposed at Wednesday’s city council meeting. They include hikes in weeds and trash violation fines, as well as fee increases for sign permits, non-criminal fingerprinting, car towing and accident report requests.Most of these proposed increases did not raise individual fines or fees above $100.With the increased fees and the additional one-time tax, Trexler does not expect a deficit at the end of 2013. “I think we’ll look back at 2013 and we’ll see a surplus,” he said.