NYT: In GOP Stronghold, 3 Districts in Indiana Are Battlgrounds

[Indiana_Dem]

I thought this might be a good post to put in the Indiana forum.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2448586

How's everybody doing? I'm from Donnelly's 2nd district. I'm getting ready to leave to phonebank in about 20 minutes. The responses in my precinct have been mostly + Donnelly! More signs up for him than last election. All of the Dem signs are pretty evenly matched with the Rethugs for the 1st time that I can remember. This is a Republican stronghold compared to the northern part of the state. There are more volunteers this year than in '04 when I first became involved. We never phonebanked as much as we are doing now either.

I think Chris Chocola and his campaigning committee must be the most evil, mean people. His TV ads have been saying lies that make Donnelly sound like a madman!! I've met him on several occasions and he is not the person they're making him out to be. They have him portrayed as some extreme liberal who supports abortion because he accepted some PAC money from a group that is pro-choice. Actually, Donnelly is a pro-life advocate who has been endorsed by the area pro-life Democrats!!! He is also pro-gun and the mail flyers make him sound like he is anti-gun!! lol I never realized how deceiving political ads are. They also say he supports amnesty and this is an area where the immigrant population is high and many natives are restless about it!! Chocola even has one commercial with some old fart local Republicans speaking about how "liberal" Joe Donnelly is and how they won't be voting for him. They are depicted sitting on the front porch of their house in rocking chairs among the cornfields. It's really corny..... anyway, from knowing Donnelly and his campaign staff, I think the whole Chocola team is just cruel....Donnelly has not stepped as low as that....what Donnelly has said in his ads are actually facts!

I don't get where I've heard the Republican Party has pulled monetary support from Chocola because these viscious ads have been playing constantly. The money is coming from somewhere. Must be a PAC. I really didn't pay attention to who sponsored the ads.

Anyway.....how are the rest of you in Indiana doing? See ya later! Be back after I finish phonebanking at 4pm. Gotta go! Keep your nose to the grindstone! :)

[Indiana_Dem]

1. update on phonebanking!!!

I called 1-1/2 pages of Republicans! At first, it was scary but after I got my feet wet, it actually hasn't been as bad as calling the non-primary voters! Most were not home and if they had an answering machine, I just left a message asking for their support. I probably got ahold of a total of only 10-15 Repubs live. It was a good session because 5 of the 10-15 I spoke to live said they would support Joe Donnelly all the way! That's almost HALF! I couldn't believe it! About 2 or 3 others were undecided but leaning Donnelly. These aren't even Dems! These are primary R voters!!! <sniff, sniff> I smell victory.....

It was a good 2 hours.

[IndyOp]

3. In_Dem - THANK YOU!!

:yourock:

I hope the rest of the rethugs will vote the way your phone-call recipients said they would!

I spent 5 hours today taping GOTV pieces to my Southern Indiana county's candidate guide -- at least 20 people were in and out during that time and we got 7,000+ done. Many more remain and people were still working when I left around 6:30 p.m.

This week still to come: Stuffing many, many 1,000's of 'blitz' packs - bags with candidate guides, voting instructions, candidate-specific literature for statewide offices and CANDY!

:hi:

[LiberalFighter]

2. Chocola is loaded (part of why RNC not putting money in him)

[dapper]

4. signs and Bumper stickers?

I know it's a week until election day but where can I get a sign for my lawn? I'd take bumper stickers but the sign would be a great last push.

Dap

[Indiana_Dem]

5. I've got one in my trunk right now--just tell me where you live! lol

Seriously, go to one of these websites or look for your local Dem website:

http://www.donnellyforuscongress.com/

http://cassdems.org/contact.cfm

Surely you could call or email and someone would help you get one up!

[dapper]

6. I live at 1234....

Actually, after I posted my original message, i popped over to donnellyforcongress.com and... didn't find much info on it. So I emailed them. Thanks!

Dap

[Pragmatic Pilgrim]

9. MC Dem office had HUGE Donnelly signs!

If you're near Michigan City, Dap, stop by the Dem office in the Evergreen Park Mall on Rte. 20, a mile or two East of 421 (not sure what the phone is, call South Bend HQ). I went canvassing out of that office on Sat., and they had a few gigantic Donnelly signs. The reason they had them was because, for some reason, they hadn't put grommets in them, so they were hard to fasten to anything. Punch a few holes with a knife or a hole-punch, get some twist-ties, and put one up on a tree or your front porch!

BTW, we had eight folks--including three local candidates--who piled into a Winnebago the size of a half-million-dollar Chicago condo (but with more storage-space!) and managed to hit nearly every door in three different towns in about three hours! Yeah, they were small towns: LaCrosse (pop. 700), Wanatah, Westville. Just boosted Dems, urged people to vote if they were on our side, and door-hung lit-bags. No walk-lists, hit every door. Got a great reception, met only one or two Repulsives (me: "Really? You're kind of outnumbered around here! Have a nice day, and don't forget to vote on the 14th!"), and I'm pretty sure I persuaded a half-dozen fence-sitters.

Been canvassing & phone-banking for weeks, and it sure seems that if the election were held tomorrow Donnelly would win in a walk. But where that big, rich elephant is concerned, we can't afford to be the blind men! Onward & upward!

[INdemo]

7. There may be another district the Republicans

are gettiing nervous about. I liked the part about Reynolds not funding this race though in order to try and save his own hide

Does Indiana now have four nationally targeted Congressional campaigns? Ask the Republicans. They're the ones shelling out $8,200 for a poll in the Third District race between longtime GOP incumbent Mark Souder and Democrat Tom Hayhurst.

http://www.takingdownwords.com/taking_down_words/2006/10/new_in_the_fiel.html

[FtWayneBlue]

8. The race has been re-rated from "Safe"

(for the Republican incumbant) to Leans Republican.

[bluemanifesto]

10. RNC Attack ad against Hayhurst

Yesterday I saw an attack ad against Dr. Hayhurst and it was paid for by the RNC. I also read an article in the Journal Gazette that the RNC is spending $150,000.00 on these commercials. Here's the question, if District 3 is a "safe republican" or "leaning republican" (and I've seen these as well), then why is the Republican National party spending $150,000.00 on ads in District 3 when you have such close races in the other races around the state? I think the facade is cracking...

[INdemo]

11. For whatever this means but it is now

rated likely republican..Here's the deal. The RNC paid for polling in the 3rd district.Shortly after the results were due the RNC loaded the Souder campaign with funding to run the negative ads.The poll results were not made public by the way..So my guess is the 3rd district is competitive.Tom Hayhurst has answered the distortions made by Souder very convincingly.I believe the momentum is in Hayhurst's favor.

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/editorial/15872747.htmt appears the Souder negative ads aren't working

[dapper]

12. Just a quick note

I went by headquarters in SB and they only had two buttons and nothing else- I did see two signs but they had yellow sticky's on them, I assume they were reserved for someone. I'm in an area which has a few new sub-divisions - only one poltical sign nearby! I'm sure it would have got some people in the area thinking- and if they had any questions, they could have knocked on the door.

There are a ton of signs out there. Heading down McKinnley (West of Capital) the majority of signs are Donnelly. Right near Capital, most of the large signs sitting on business property are for Chocola. East of Capital they appear to be even/slightly more for Chocola. Overall, Donnelly has a small lead (based on signs)

If you guys plan to canvas the South Bend/Mishuaka/Osceola/Granger, let me know. Maybe I will join and and see what it's all about.

Dap