Sounds like Ellsworth is in.

Could be.

Ellsworth is part of the Stupak ReproRightsRollback block.

The next step will be taking a few days to talk to my wife and to folks in Indiana about where I can best serve our state.

That type of statement usually translates to mean: “I am p*ssing myself I want to run so bad but I have to do the final convincing of my wife and she usually gives me my way on these things”

The dims are going all out to destroy the party so they can merge with the rethugs. The dims are almost there, and they are taking the MA loss as proof that they have to become more rethug than the rethugs. It is amazing what excellent results you can get by just saying “NO.” obamarahma is not stupid, so he sees exactly what is happening, and, is apparently pleased because he takes no steps to reverse the miserable trend.

That doesn’t matter. He has a D by his name and is semi-electable!

Just to offer context, he was the guy who came up with the Ellsworth compromise, which wouldn’t have changed current law nearly to the degree of Stupak. But he couldn’t get enough pro-lifers to sign on to his compromise, so he eventually signed on to Stupak as a co-sponsor of the amendment.

Just wanted to be specific.

Get Lee Hamilton out of semi retirement.

Just to be clear, your link to support the “most popular mayor” statement is to the guy who is the Dem Party head for Vanderburgh County (i.e, Evansville).

If you’re touting Weinzapfel for Bayh’s Senate seat, I’m guessing you don’t watch IN poltics closely.

I’m not parsing your sarcasm very well… surely, you’re not serious?

I think it’s more a matter of time to wheel and deal with the party and see who they are going to back – if Hill has the inside track, Ellsworth won’t likely buck that, but he is going to sales pitch himself as the better option and see if it gets traction.

Thanks for the clarification.

The party machine will pick the candidate…yippee. So tell me why IN progressives should give a damn about this election after such blatant chicanery to rob them of even a squeak of a voice in the selection?

Whoever it is will just be Coakley redux.

If you’re in Indiana and want to help stick it to them before they stick it to you contact Tamyra D’Ippolito and help collect signatures….
Tamyra For Senate c/o Linda Napier 1108 S. Madison St. Bloomington, Indiana 47403-4738 ph: 812.323.9005 cell: 812-650-2072

To some here, it doesn’t matter if a candidate sponsored an amendment that would have stripped millions of women of benefits they already have and forced them to buy insurance that wouldn’t cover all of their needs. As long as he has a D by his name, and can win in November, that suffices.

I am serious… and don’t call me Shirley.

“Here” as in Indiana?, or “here” as in FDL? I would think only the former would qualify.

AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…

Citizen David Dayen and the Firepup Freedom Fighters:

I have been among those who have been sayin since 2006 that it’s better for Blue Dog and fascist-friendly Democrats to lose than to be re-elected especially in the Senate. The one thing that Obama has done since his election that undermines real change and makes it difficult to get leaner and meaner and more progressive Democrats across the country is to replace Howard Dean as DNC Chair and dismantle his 50 state operation. Rahm is NOT undermining progressives by keepin’ Blue Dog seats for Blue Dogs but he is ultimately undermining Obama because he’s fixin’ ta get both Obama AND the Democrats booted in 2012…the fewer the Blue Dogs and the more fascists there are the bigger the contrast in who is doin’ what to whom and for how much. It is a bvery dangerous game that the old guard corporatist Democrats are playin but ultimately it’s gunna jest kill the corporatist wing of the party and it will end up gettin’ our politics settled in the streets and in mass marches and bloody demonstrations.

KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION, THINGS HAFTA GET A WHOLE LOT WORSE BEFORE THEY GET ANY BETTER!!

It’s a problem with the Democratic Party in general. Democrats will quickly throw their support behind a candidate without considering his voting record or where he stands on the issues; it is irrelevant whether or not the Democrat actually supports progressive principles. It’s “the best we can do”. I think this attitude and practicality is detrimental to actually advancing progressive legislation in this country.

Well, I wouldn’t take the wife thing so seriously myself. They are probably wanting to see what the backlash might be, since the Indiana primary process on the Democratic side has been nullified.

I’d argue that this very dot on the blogosphere is central to electing better progressives (and we know which party at least grudgingly allows their involvement). We Hoosiers might be slow to realize that we need real, progressive Democrats (like, arguably, Baby Bayh’s Daddy), but let’s not waste breath bemoaning the status quo without stating plans to change it.

Personally I’m am completely unhappy with Ellsworth as a choice, but we have to hold the Indiana House of reps to avoid redisticting probs after the census, and if the Senate candidate is a Blue Dog that’s just what happens. Sucks, but there is no legal way to stop it. I do consider Blue Dogs preferable to teabaggers, which is what we’ll get otherwise.

Man, I would support the return of Birch Bayh in a SECOND.

Birch Bayh is less likely than Lee Hamilton. Lee really does seem to me to be the best hope Indiana has for electing a more progressive Senator. And it is a slim hope at that.

First let me say that I’m not as enamored of Hamilton as some folks.

Now to adot, do you have any suggested plans? What are our options. Assuming DiPolitto doesn’t get on the ballot and the party bosses appoint an unacceptable ConservaDem… what’s our next step as progressives?

A write-in campaign is almost pointless. Try to go through a third-party to get a genuine progressive on the ballot for the general election?

It’s a much more significant problem to the party itself. This site, of course, is a huge influence in the progressive movement. And if we want to change the status quo, that is not accomplished by replacing Evan Bayh with another conservative blue dog.

I think we’re stuck with allowing another incident similar to the shiny new Senator from Cosmo.

What do we know about Jonathan Weinzapfel?

100% agreed.

Perhaps his Norskeness is correct that we’re better off leaner. I’m yet not convinced that he is, but wonder if a real, populist progressive can convince the people to vote for their own interests, if handed an opponent like Lobbyist Coats or Wingnut Hostettler.

Hostettler has to be a bit more worrisome, given his tendency to pitch populism when it means religious hegemony and xenophobia.

I’m not sure why you think that’s good. If he’s another Dim Dem who is a DINO, then why do we care.

I just got Bayh’s “goodbye” letter “Thank you Indiana.” It’s interesting that you can’t reply to his emails.

I’m not totally enamored with Lee. I just don’t see any other hoosier politicians that are less blue dog than he with a chance of election. Lee isn’t interested…

The pathway to the IN Senate has been Congress (Coats, Quayle), Indianapolis Mayor (Lugar), or Governor (Evan Bayh).

I suppose another big city mayor might have a shot (although Lugar’s success at Unigov reforms in Marion County/Indianapolis were part of his appeal in his initial election.. something that isn’t possible now).

Fred Armstrong (Columbus mayor)?
Rudolph Clay (Gary mayor)?
Mark Kruzan (Bloomington mayor)?
Kevin Burke (former Terre Haute mayor)?
Jonathon Weinzapfel (already mentioned)

Kokomo and Fort Wayne are Republican strongholds, no recent mayors that recommend themselves.

Indiana state legislature could possibly yield a contender. In the state Senate there aren’t as many possibilities – Vi Simpson?

Yeah, Hostettler is a whack-job, not just another corporate conservative.

But he couldn’t get enough pro-lifers to sign on to his compromise, so he eventually signed on to Stupak as a co-sponsor of the amendment.

And this makes him a good choice how? Another Dim Dem that caves to the right.

There aren’t a lot of great options with the connections to work through the rusty party machinery.

I would throw out the name Nancy Dembowski (state Rep from Knox) as someone with some establishment cred, but progressive leanings. It’s tough in Indiana, look how the party totally undermined Jill Long Thompson in her bid for governor… it seemed they would rather see Mitch Daniels have another term than support someone who wasn’t their hand-picked candidate.

That is why I throw Lee’s name out there. He isn’t ideal from a progressive standpoint, but he does know the state party well. And maybe he would want to make up for foisting Baron Hill on us as his successor in the House.

Who’s on your short list of progressive Democrats in Indiana? Who among them can attract 1.2 million or so voters?

so the choice is:
2 BlueDogs
1 supposedly flaky progressive
1 popular unknown mayor
Not much time here to evaluate, but unless progressives organize again, the choice will go to a bunch of backroom politicos.
Shame, too.

The ghost of Eugene Debs is the most progressive possibility.

yeah, that’s snark. Indiana doesn’t have any progressives with state wide appeal, and barely has any with state legislative district appeal.

Please, not Vi Simpson; one of her great legislative accomplishments was “keg tracking” (licenses attached to beer kegs make identifying the purchasers easier for police in her college town, bolstering the area’s primarily fine-supported local government). My fellow undergrads and I in Bloomington were not impressed.

She’s also been on the anti-video game kick. Here’s a quotable quote (pardon the lack of context, but her membership in the Jack Thompson school is obvious):

Right now, kids can walk into just about any store and get their hands on a video game in which they can shoot police officers, use drugs, steal cars, rape women or even assassinate a president. That’s frightening to say the least.

To me, she comes off as the DiFi type, and inspires immediate (and IMHO, warranted) “nanny-state” criticism from the other side. Naturally, I know many Democrats are not quite as committed to civ-libs, but I hope the good folks here at FDL share my concern that she’s made hay over laws perscuting victimless crimes and attempts to restrict free speech.

These lightweight issues aside, she seems to sit on a bunch of committees regarding insurance and health providers. Does anyone know how she’s acquitted herself there?

My longshot candidate is Nancy Dembowski. I think she could be a very serious candidate with no hints of flakiness at all. She’s probably not as liberal as many of us here, but I would consider her a solid progressive, not a blue dog. She’s a state representative, former state senator and former mayor of Knox.

It’s tough in Indiana because most people with serious political connections lean much more toward the Blue Dog end of the spectrum. I “liberal” from Indy or Bloomington isn’t likely to play well in the rest of the state. I wish there was a good progressive populist around who could appeal to urban liberals and rural, practical moderates as well.

I have some similar reservations about Vi as well. I think she would easily be painted by the right as a “Nancy Pelosi liberal” – which wouldn’t play well here in Indiana.

I wish we had a shot at reanimating Eugene V. Debs. His old house is a museum in Terre Haute now.

Interesting possibility. Do you know if she is well regarded by the Lake county democratic machine? IE did she get any significant campaign funding from them? Her district is practically next door…

Hmm… I missed South Bend mayor Steve Luecke as a big city mayor possibility.

We’re reducing hoping the machine will choose a progressive instead of another corporate hack for us. Good grief.

I don’t like the mechanics of the Democratic party in Indiana. I do perceive that Lake County’s machine is important for fundraising, which is why I ask the question regarding Nancy Dembowski’s reception there.

David is right to suggest Mayor Weinzapfel is a much, much better bet for Progressives than Ellsworth or Hill could ever hope to be. (..much, much and could ever hope to be language is mine.)

Hill is an out and out Blue Dog – and Rahm seems partial to him. Ahhh!
Ellsworth was the better of the two only because while only a little Dog and a Pro-lifer he did try to respect the Pro-choice side by offering to ease Stupak language. However, he voted against Stem Cell Research and lots of other good bills.

But Weinzapfel was on board in supporting Obama from Day one, unlike Bayh or Ellsworth, knowing Obama was pro-stem cell research and was still re-elected, becoming even more popular than before.
He’s incredibly well liked, has recently and successfully worked on jobs and city revitalization and just may be our brave new Democratic star in the reddening skies of Indiana.

Weinzapfel out
http://indianapolistimesblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/weinzapfel-out-of-senate-race-ellsworth.html

Weinzapfel, who is considering a 2012 run for governor, immediately withdrew himself from consideration, saying in a statement he is honored to be mentioned, but “not interested in pursuing this opportunity.”