(Indiana) Change of heartland

[UpInArms]

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/03/19/change_of_heartland/?page=full

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The third anniversary of the Iraq invasion unleashed a surge of pessimism at a local farmers' market here, where stalwart Republicans, standing amid aisles of produce and miracle cures, said President Bush has messed up a war that looks more like Vietnam every day.

<snip>

Madaras, the owner of a plumbing company, said he believed Bush when the president declared major combat to be over in May 2003, and is ''disgusted" that Bush's rhetoric was hollow. And he is far from alone.

<snip>

This month, the Indianapolis Star released poll findings that Bush's approval rating among Indiana voters stood at 37 percent -- a drop of 18 points over the past year. The numbers echoed national polls, but were particularly shocking in a state that has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964, and where Democratic presidential contenders often do not bother to campaign.

<snip>

As more and more Hoosiers find themselves making the comparison that only liberals and antiwar protesters made a year ago -- Iraq is like Vietnam -- some say they are also starting to doubt Bush's competence to protect America from terrorism on the home front.

...more...

[IndianaGreen]

1. 3 GOP House seats are in peril in Indiana

Bush is travelling to Indianapolis on the 24th for a fund raiser for a first-term GOP congressman that is badly trailing in the polls.

[blueinindiana]

3. Sodrel Correct?

I am in his district what a joke. The only reason why he even won at all was because W was on the ticket and all the Bush, Inc. bots showed up. Now I am not a huge fan of Barron Hill he is Republican Light but in Indiana that is all you can hope for.

[IndyOp]

5. I am not convinced that Sodrel won.

There was weirdness with machines throwing too many votes to third party candidates and when the recount was triggered the only votes we could recount were absentee/early ballots because the rest were recorded by touch screen machines that did not print individual paper receipts.

:grr:

[IndyOp]

4. Which seats are in peril?

I've got to start paying more attention to state politics.

:bounce:

[IndianaGreen]

7. Sodrel, Hostetler, and Chocola

On the other hand, the GOP may steal the elections via machine voting or electronic voting registration, as illustrated by the following story posted in Indiana forum by hippiechick:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=151x4240

1st test of voter sign-up is a bust
new system crashes, causing worry, but it works on 2nd try

By Mary Beth Schneider

A new statewide voter registration system getting its first test Friday needed a do-over.
The system -- mandated in every state under the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 -- crashed in its first tryout Friday morning, raising concerns among Marion County election officials about how the system will work during the May 2 primary election.

A second test conducted Friday afternoon went smoothly, election officials said. The problem, said Secretary of State Todd Rokita, the state's top election official, was caused by a hardware upgrade designed to make the system faster.

Steve McNear, president of Quest Information Systems, which created Indiana's system, said in a statement that "temporary problems were discovered and resolved quickly. We remain confident that our efforts -- and our procedures for identifying problems and making system corrections -- will result in a new state voter registration system that is reliable, secure, flexible and comprehensive."

The company said no hardware upgrades will be made within a week of the May 2 primary or Nov. 4 general elections.

[Rose Siding]

2. Budding Zarqawis, every one!

At least according to Rumfilled in today's WP:

Some have described the situation in Iraq as a tightening noose, noting that "time is not on our side"and that "morale is down." Others have described a "very dangerous" turn of events and are "extremely concerned."

Who are they that have expressed these concerns? In fact, these are the exact words of terrorists discussing Iraq -- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his associates -- who are describing their own situation and must be watching with fear the progress that Iraq has made over the past three years.

[Fenris]

8. Damned traitorous terror-sympathizing communists!

The whole lot of them!

[pretzel4gore]

6. like hitler's quitters in 1942!

damn these people! they support an enemy who has plotted to overturn their social order, to privitize their national wealth and to force their kids/grandkids to become prostitutes, then they abandon the 'good fight' when it's apparent they're fighting for their worst enemy!
'how droll' as joseph conrad liked to say....
when stupidity hurts others, such as 120 thousand iraqis, and not just yourself, it becomes wicked, but when it hurts others and secretly benefits you (you nudge-wink think) then it's evil, or sinful or just plain ugly.....