RIVERA: Hoosiers’ common-sense triumphs
My generation of Hoosiers has elevated expectations for government. It must be environmentally friendly, embrace technology, help our neediest, treat everyone equally, and manage finances responsibly.
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MAHERN: Now that you’ve been elected a legislator…
So, you have been elected to the Legislature. Robert Redford once starred in a movie called “The Candidate.” At the end of the film and after an improbable win for the U.S. Senate, the Redford character asks his consultant, “What do we do now?"
HOWEY: Mourdock camp ran a bad campaign
A couple of days after Richard Mourdock upset U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar in the May primary, Howard County Republican Chairman Craig Dunn called me. Would I be open to a “clear the air” meeting with Mourdock?
KRULL: Voters spoke, but is the GOP listening?
Oh, what strange things partisanship and ideology can be. The day after the votes had been counted in the 2012 election, Republican leaders new and old in state government declared that nothing—not even a pesky upset—was going to stop them from implementing their education agenda.
SWAYZE: Turbo government here for business
Now that Indiana is right-to-work, voters have given Gov.-elect Mike Pence a legislative escort through his Roadmap for Indiana. Super-majorities in the House and Senate will help him build on Gov. Daniels’ success to make Indiana a state that works.
VANE: All in all, state Republicans won big
I simply can’t imagine that there’s been a more interesting era of politics in the Hoosier State than the one in which we are living.
BECK: Republicans received no mandates
A super-majority doesn’t necessarily mean good government.
MUTZ: More campaign disclosure necessary
Who made a campaign contribution and for how much should be public information before the election. Two court rulings since 2010 and creation of several finance vehicles have complicated and confused the situation.
WAGNER: Political ads filtered by a 4-year-old
We don’t watch a lot of television in our house, but when it’s on, it’s almost always tuned to a news station or show.
FARGO: Ads breed cynicism in young people
The election is over, but there are still some unanswered questions as we clean up the toxic debris from the campaigns and get back to focusing on other things.
BONIFIELD: Blowout holds lessons for Democrats
As the dust settles on the 2012 elections, new oaths of office will be accompanied by post-mortems by partisans on both sides of the aisle.
LANANE: Target small business, Main Street, training, health care
Our state is in a challenging time, with unemployment hovering above 8 percent and many Hoosiers hopeful that better days are on the horizon. The Indiana Senate Democrats’ 2013 legislative proposals and budget priorities will reflect the principles of rebuilding our economy, schools and local communities.
BROOKS: A primer on true, workable moderation
Over the past month, Mitt Romney has aggressively appealed to moderate voters. President Barack Obama, for some reason, hasn’t.
KRUGMAN: Pols should follow the economic evidence
The U.S. economy finally seems to be recovering in earnest, with housing on the rebound and job creation outpacing growth in the working-age population. But it will take years to restore full employment. Why has the slump been so protracted?
LEIGHTY: Real feminists want a better economy
Apparently, the Republican Party has waged a war on women. I’ve heard this from the mainstream media, many Democratic candidates and even a few Indiana University professors.
WINSTON: Why rural voters should support Obama
Politics is an amazing, yet perplexing, profession. I have often wondered why President Obama trails Mitt Romney by a large margin in rural areas.
SOUDER: Pence is show horse and work horse
Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Gregg has hauled out the canard that Mike Pence is a “show horse,” not a “work horse,” based upon two “polls” in 2006 and 2008. Neither was scientific: They were anonymous, voting multiple times could be easily done, and rivals could rig the voting.
DAVIS: Republicans’ turn to vote for Democrats
If you know me, I think you agree that I am not a firebrand partisan with automatic reactions based on my Democratic Party affiliation.
SHELLA: A kitchen where the heat is turned down
All of a sudden, when I check out news stories on the Internet, a negative political ad pops up and I can’t make it go away. That is, unless I want the news story to go away, too.
EARLY: Donnelly running on high-pocrisy
It is only a few days until the election, and the Mourdock-Donnelly Senate race is still in limbo.