Tag: in-09

Democratic Death Panel Watch, 10/05/2010.

Via Jim Geraghty, reports are in that the following three districts have been abandoned by the DCCC.  Well, technically, all that’s happening is one week’s worth of ad purchases have been canceled by the DCCC.  Then again, there’s only four weeks left – and it’s not like any of them are considered safe retentions at this point:

  • IN-08.  Open seat: the old incumbent is Brad Ellsworth, who decided not to run again in favor of losing a Senate race to Dan Coats. The Democratic challenger to Larry Bucshon is pretty much irrelevant at this point; Cook rates this seat as Likely Republican.
  • IN-09.  The incumbent is Baron Hill (best known for this); his opponent is Todd Young.  Cook rates this one as Toss-Up.
  • TX-17.  The incumbent is Chet Edwards; his opponent is Bill Flores.  Cook rates this one as Toss-Up.

It should be emphasized that Chet Edwards has been in Congress for twenty years; he survived the Texas Redistricting Massacre of 2003 and has been holding on ever since; he’s on the Budget and Appropriations committees.  Baron Hill was in Congress from 1998 to 2004, got beat in 2004, then came back in 2006.  These are not political neophytes, nor are they unskilled (Hill is conceited and arrogant, but not unskilled).  Their seats should not be hard to defend.

Which makes you wonder which seats are in even worse shape.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

Democratic Death Panel Watch: Baron Hill, IN-09.

The DCCC is cutting Hill loose; while it’s being – nervously – categorized as being merely an internal dispute, the practical end result is that the section of the DCCC that can do unlimited funding (independent expenditures) has canceled critical ad time while the section of the DCCC that cannot (coordinated) will be offering, at best, a token 87K. Hill, of course, is the super-genius who did this last year:

Continue reading Democratic Death Panel Watch: Baron Hill, IN-09.

Meet Todd Young (R CAND, IN-09).

Todd just won the GOP primary in Indiana’s 9th District, beating out early frontrunner Mike Sodrel. He’s facing Baron Hill, who of course is best known for thinking that his first name is also his title. Cook rated this race as Toss-Up: interestingly, total GOP participation exceeded total Democratic participation in the primary, which was contested on both sides.

Todd’s site is here.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Baron Hill (D, IN-09) does not play well with others.

Which most people reading this already knew: but it’s now the Democrats’ turn to learn that. I don’t think that they’ll enjoy the lesson:

Within hours of Indiana Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh’s retirement announcement last week, establishment Democrats in Indiana and Washington were signaling that Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-Ind.) was their preferred favorite to succeed him. And by Friday, the last day to file for office, Ellsworth had announced his intention to run for the Senate seat.

It had all the makings of a neatly wrapped package, with just one exception: Rep. Baron Hill (D-Ind.) hadn’t signed off on the succession plan.

Now Hill is suggesting he’s seriously weighing a campaign — and other candidates are making calls to committee members to feel out support — and the process of choosing a Democratic Senate nominee could prove to be a lot messier than originally anticipated.

I was pleased to hear that Senator Evan Bayh had decided to not run for re-election; it meant that we’d pick up a Senate seat. I was also pleased to hear that Rep. Brad Ellsworth had decided to go for the seat; it meant that we’d pick up a Senate and a House seat. But if Baron Hill ends up being the nominee, then Bayh’s sudden retirement will mean that we will pick up a Senate and two House seats: the Democrats can’t make their Senate pick until after the primary and they’ve already picked the sacrificial victim for IN-08.  And the progressive base doesn’t really like Ellsworth, anyway (NSFW language).

Some day I hope to hear just what the Obama administration specifically did to Evan Bayh, to fuel this revenge.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Please run for the Senate, Baron Hill. #rsrh

Pretty please, with sugar on top – and that’s a request that would be echoed by probably every conservative/Republican activist in Indiana.

You see, as it stands Baron Hill is doing so badly in IN-09 against Mike Sodrel that it seems almost almost wasteful. But having him do a Melancon and switch from a House race that he’s going to lose over to a Senate race that he’s going to lose?  That will have the happy effect of preserving the line of attack that the GOP’s already preparing and helping us with all the other statewide/Federal races, too. To put it another way: there are many Indiana Republicans out there who were disappointed that they had no way to vote against Baron Hill. If he becomes the Democratic candidate for Senate, it’ll be like the sun coming out for them.

So please.  Try to get that nomination, Hill.

Please.

Moe Lane

‘Baron’ is merely your *name*, Rep. Hill (D, IN-09).

It is not your job description.

Check out (via the Campaign Spot) this amazingly fatheaded – and more amusingly, techno-illiterate – posturing by Democratic Congressman Baron Hill:

See also Hoosierpundit, who’s also covering this district pretty thoroughly, it looks like.

Continue reading ‘Baron’ is merely your *name*, Rep. Hill (D, IN-09).