Suddenly, Indiana's 8th District up for grabs

Citing the absence of an incumbent, the current political climate and issues that could make presumptive Democratic nominee Trent Van Haaften “an easy target for Republican ad makers,” the Cook Political Report changed its assessment of a “likely Democratic” win with Ellsworth in the race to “lean Republican” without him.

“The early leader in the GOP field, cardiologist Larry Bucshon, lacks deep roots in the district and has yet to get his campaign fully up and running, but doesn’t have a record to attack, either,” the Washington-based political newsletter stated. “Running as a political outsider, (Bucshon) has raised $100,000 for the race so far and should certainly be able to raise much more now that Ellsworth is abandoning his re-election bid.”

Coming into focus

In the 24 hours after state Rep. Van Haaften of Mount Vernon, Ind., filed his candidacy to replace Ellsworth, the newly reconfigured 8th District race began to come into focus.

In a Saturday morning news conference at Hovey House in Mount Vernon, the 45-year-old Van Haaften cast himself as a nonideological problem solver, and he embraced Ellsworth as a political role model.

Van Haaften, a former Posey County prosecutor who was elected to the state Legislature in 2004, named “jobs, health care, concerns about friends or enemies of this country” as national issues that concern him.

“Those are the things that I will immediately begin fine-tuning and turning my attention to,” he said. “But most importantly, I’m going to turn my attention to the people of the 8th District and making sure I ask them, ‘What solutions, what ideas do you have to move us forward?'”

Van Haaften was part of a group of Democratic legislators who endorsed Barack Obama over Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2008 Indiana Democratic presidential primary. Among the roughly half-dozen supporters who cheered him Saturday was DeLyn Beard, chief Vanderburgh County organizer for the pro-Obama organization Evansville for Change, and Posey County-based Obama volunteer Ann Shank.

On the Republican side, the 47-year-old Bucshon, a Newburgh heart surgeon, still must defeat seven primary opponents who are largely unknown to local party leaders and who haven’t matched his fundraising or recognition as a promising candidate by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Bucshon, a first-time candidate, is running as an economic, social and national security conservative with a working-class upbringing.

“Hoosiers recognize that we cannot continue on a path of out-of-control government spending,” Bucshon said in his Oct. 12 announcement speech. “They recognize that bailing out or taking over every failing business in America leads us down the path toward socialism.”

In one important way, the dynamics of the 8th District race changed dramatically when Ellsworth bowed out.

Ellsworth had a more than 6-to-1 fundraising advantage over Bucshon at the end of 2009 and a campaign staff in place — important political metrics in an 18-county district that stretches as far north as Warren County. Geographically, the 8th District is Indiana’s largest.

Bucshon does not expect to name a campaign manager until this week.

But Van Haaften also has no campaign organization, relying instead in the early hours of his candidacy on the Vanderburgh County Democratic Party. He said Saturday he will put his own campaign structure in place as quickly as possible.

‘Easy target’

The Cook Political Report said one potentially serious problem for Van Haaften is that he “has accepted an unusually high number of gifts from lobbyists and (political action committees), including tickets from AT&T to an inaugural ball for President Obama in Washington.”

On Friday — the day Van Haaften filed for Congress — Bucshon sent out a statement citing the AT&T gifts and decrying the “old way of doing business.”

According to reports filed with the Indiana Lobby Registration Commission, during the Legislature’s 2009 session Van Haaften accepted more than $4,300 in gifts from lobbyists, mostly from AT&T — a company that backed a broadband mapping bill he authored.

The gifts included trips to the Democratic National Convention and a golf tournament in San Antonio.

It was the second largest total of the Legislature’s 150 members, behind only the $5,223 in gifts accepted by House Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend.

Van Haaften’s broadband mapping bill passed the General Assembly and was signed into law by Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels. The federal government awarded Indiana a $1.3 million grant to aid the project.

Van Haaften did support subsequent legislation intended to break the close ties between legislators and lobbyists. A version of that bill is expected to pass the General Assembly in the next month.

Van Haaften later said the perks he accepted had nothing to do with his decision to offer the broadband mapping bill. His campaign finance reports showed the company had not previously been among his major donors, and previous lobbying reports did not show that AT&T gave Van Haaften gifts before.

“I go up (to Indianapolis) every year, and I fight for my district,” he said in response to criticism last year. “I think people recognize that, especially in regards to the schools.”

After his Saturday news conference, Van Haaften declined to respond directly to Bucshon’s message.

“I know the questions about the lobbying are going to come up, but all I can hope for is that the media will take a look at the full picture, unlike the political operatives that want to take a look at 10 percent of the picture,” he said.
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