Michael Leppert: Democrats deserve to be courted by Donnelly

I wanted to write about the political gyrations surrounding the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court. Much of it is frustrating, yet interesting.

The action is in the Senate, and Indiana has a hot race between Sen. Joe Donnelly and Mike Braun. The lack of polling on this nationally pivotal race was also frustrating me. I was having a hard time believing we had not been overwhelmed with polls in the race before Labor Day.

National publications were certain the race should be classified as a “toss-up,” but no actual polling was being cited.

And then the news hit on Sept. 5.

A poll released by NBC/Marist showed Donnelly has a 44-41 lead over Braun with a 5-point margin of error. It’s an edge, however slight.

One big item the poll shines a light on is the Libertarian candidate Lucy Brenton. She has 8 percent support among likely voters right now. Twenty percent of independents say they support her.

There is also interesting information on Hoosiers’ views of President Trump. The classic “approval rating” number has him at 48 percent. But the disapproval number is 46 percent, which is rather high. I was drawn to voters’ “impression” of him, though. Only 44 percent have a favorable impression while 51 percent have an unfavorable one.

These numbers are a problem for Trump and Republican candidates.

So, why then should Donnelly be running a campaign that is overtly trying to show his ability to agree with Trump? His desire to recruit Trump supporters by touting his support of Trump immigration policies is an excellent example of ignoring Democrat voters. He absolutely needs those voters on Election Day to win.

It is a tired Hoosier Democratic political strategy that was made popular by Evan Bayh, the former Indiana governor and U.S. senator. A good campaign either motivates people to vote or persuades voters the candidate’s platform is the right one. Great campaigns do both. This campaign does neither.

Democrats in Indiana deserve a candidate more committed to them than this.

Which leads me back to the Supreme Court confirmation.

The last sizable vote that Donnelly has left in the Senate before the Nov. 6 election is the vote on Kavanaugh. Nationally, only 38 percent of Americans support it. That number mirrors the president’s latest national approval numbers from ABC/Washington Post polling.

The list of reasons available to Donnelly to vote with the Democratic base, and the majority of Americans, is long. Women’s reproductive rights are at stake in this court-tilting nomination. But so are others.

“I believe that the president should be excused from some of the burdens of ordinary citizenship while serving in office,” Kavanaugh wrote in the Minnesota Law Review in 2009. That should concern any objective observer in Washington. Trump has been a subject of a special counsel investigation since May 2017. There have been several indictments and guilty pleas by people connected to his campaign and administration.

Kavanaugh refuses to commit to recuse himself from a case involving criminal or civil liability involving the president. He also won’t say if Trump can pardon himself. These views matter on decisions he might face almost immediately following his appointment.

The Republicans have the votes to confirm him without the Democrats. The Republicans don’t need Donnelly’s help.

But Democratic voters do.

This is Donnelly’s chance to show Indiana Democrats he has the courage to be a check on a president whose administration is in deep trouble and deeply in need of being checked.

If he votes yes on Kavanaugh, Hoosier Democrats should vote no on him.•

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Leppert is an author and governmental affairs consultant in Indianapolis. He writes at MichaelLeppert.com. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.