A blue Indiana...

A blue Indiana is something I honestly didn't believe was possible without Bayh on the ticket. According to a lot of recent polling and trend data, however,Indiana is in play. Most camps/sites/experts till place Indiana in the Leans Republican column, which makes sense given the systematic and institutional nature of supporting the GOP presidential candidate in the state. However, the news on the ground is telling more and more stories like this one about Lafayette from the 538ers.

It seems to me that the McCain camp took for granted that Indiana was died in the wool red and in doing so never created the campaign structure that is needed towards the end of a race to close the deal with fence voters. Obama has an impressive campaign organization on the ground, and given the 29 days remaining may just be able to make Indiana interesting. It is an impressive feat in and of itself to even be talking about putting the Hoosier state in play, given it broke 1.5M to 950K in '04. To win, Obama will need to increase the Kerry splits in Lake, Marion and Monroe counties, as well as significantly eat into the huge Bush numbers in the seven donut counties around Indy. Those seven counties broke at above 63% in 2004. If Obama can carry Lake at close to 70%, Monroe and Marion at 65% and bring the donuts down to 53-55% he just might have a shot. Under any circumstance, I'm definatley excited about this race, and if nothing else I can watch to see if Daviess County can overtake Kosciusko for the most Republican in the state*.


I actually have trouble believing there are actually 2,500 people who voted for Kerry in Daviess County.

Infrastructure leases....

Today's NYT Business section features an article on the increasing use of private investment in public infrastructure, such as roads and bridges. This method of financing public infrastructure, which often are in a severe state of disrepair, is becoming more prevalent as state and local governments have become the lead agencies of maintaining and improving these assets. These governments are facing declining or stagnating revenues, growing debt burdens, and a significant reduction in federal aide, leaving the option of going to the private market a much more desirable option than in the past. There are tons of questions that come with such a change, the most salient of which should be recognized by those in Indiana as the lack of popular support for such a deal. (My Man Mitch got hammered when he "sold" the toll road.)

I have a number of concerns about this type of leasing of public assets to private companies, but the primary issues are accountability and social equity in fees. The private sector, of course, assures the governemnts through "concession agreements" that tolls will only be raised by X amount and that service will meet a certain level. Despite these agreements, the reality is that once a toll road becomes managed by the private sector there is a very real loss of accountability on its operation. Additionally, once the government ceases to budget for improving that road, it is exceedingly difficult to work it back into already tight public budgets.

I will say that the rise of pension funds investing in these infrastructure assets, is less disturbing than private firms -- but then again, how will these pension funds respond if the project isn't allowing them to meet their target return rate?

This week's "not so Goode"...

I don't know if you saw my earlier post the need of the Greg Goode for US House website and campaign organization for a campaign worker, but I came across another gem while looking for the "New Covenant for the Conservative Movement" on his website. If you go to the campaign blog portion of the website and scroll down to entries from February you will find the following two entries:

Number 1:

Note from the Road
February 18, 2008 | Posted by Greg Goode

Like most of the residents of Southern Indiana, I was surprised to read the contents of the following very-well done article by Tom Langhorne with the Evansville Courier and Press regarding the "tricky decision" Brad Ellsworth will have to make in determining whether to support Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. To me, there is no trickiness about it. I believe that Hoosiers deserve a reliable conservative voice in Washington to hold all Federal politicians accountable. I would not accept any money from Barack Obama and would challenge all Indiana politicians to turn away liberal efforts of courtship.

Greg

Number 2:

Tricky Decision? Not For Greg Goode
February 26, 2008 | Posted by Greg Goode
I am Leslie Goode, and my husband, Greg, is running for Congress. Like most of the residents of southern Indiana, Greg and I were surprised to read the contents of a well written article by Tom Langhorne with the Evansville Courier and Press regarding the "tricky decision" Brad Ellsworth will have to make in determining whether to support Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. For the Goode family, there is no trickiness about it. We believe that Hoosiers deserve a reliable conservative voice in Washington to hold all politicians accountable. I know my husband better than anyone, and Greg Goode would not accept money from Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, or any other politician whose political agendas oppose our heritage and values.

Leslie Goode

Don't get me wrong, I understand the concept of "staying on message" in a campaign, but don't you think YOU could do better than that? Apply today! Help bring home a victory for a man who will work to establish a "New Covenant for the Conservative Movement" (of which I am still searching!).

Anyone looking for a political campaign job???

If so, you may wish to contact Greg Goode, who is the GOP candidate for Indiana's eighth district House seat this fall. I admittedly have no direct information that he is hiring staff, but if you peruse his website you will surely note the need for both a staff writer and a political mind. To wit,

From the main page:

"I believe that our Congress can and must do a better job in guiding our country in a way to which President Reagan referred as the "shining city on a hill."

I really don't understand this sentence. No seriously, I mean I really don't.

From the about Greg page:

"Greg Goode is a Christian first, then an American, then a conservative, and then a Republican--in that order."

-- What about a Hoosier? I think he is secretively supporting the agenda of the Illinoisans across the Wabash. I do find the "in that order" qualifier to be quite fun, just in case someone couldn't follow the standard logic of language usage of the word then. Good job Goode!

Also from the about Greg page:

Greg Goode is running for Congress not just to oppose the liberal policies and votes of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and the incumbant 8th District Representative, he is running for "A New Covenant for the Conservative Cause," based on balancing the Federal budget, lowering taxes, protecting the jobs of our heartland from being given to China, defending our heritage and values, protecting our homeland from illegal aliens, supporting our men and women in uniform, and fighting for I-69 and other transportation priorities.

Greg Goode will restore a rock-solid, reliable, conservative voice in the US Congress!

A new covenant for the conservative cause? What does that mean?

And from the "On the Issues" page, regarding Constituent Services:

He would not hire liberals who previously worked for Barack Obama and are from outside our great state. He understands that a Congressional staff should be made up of dedicated people WHO ARE FROM INDIANA and appreciate our heritage and values!

I really don't have a problem with the idea of hiring staff from within the district, but how much veiled racism can one cram onto a single campaign site? There are many other examples of Goode invoking the name of the devil, I mean Barack Obama on the website and we all know the deal, scare'm with talk of the potential black president. Another side of this approach is that Goode is obviously not concerned with getting the best candidates to assist his constituents with their governmental issues and concerns, but rather to ensure that his office is a bastion of conservatism -- no matter if you can't get your passport. Maybe this is part of that aforementioned "new covenant for the conservative cause," which I have to admit I haven't seen (if it is a document?).

An aside on the italicized incumbant above -- Do you think if Goode were to win, he would learn how to spell incumbent correctly? My guess is no, but maybe this is just another example of how the bureaucrats got involved in his education and led him astray in spelling. If that is the case, however, I would bet that Dan Quayle was involved in getting them their jobbes.