I'll admit it, Barack Obama won in a landslide and broughtt hundreds if not thousands of local and state Democrats with him to wins in races.
The nation has spoken, for now at least, and decided to choose a radical departure from George Bush's Administration. Even our red state, went almost wholeheartedly blue ... except of course for Mitch Daniels and his fellow state administrators.
In NW Indiana, there was hardly a single Republican win worth discussing, sure a couple incumbents slid by. I will write a longer piece later today on the future of NW Indiana politics, with an eye to the resounding wins yesterday for CHANGE and HOPE and VISION. I think there are lessons to be learned at every level.
For now, what are your thoughts? Why did Indiana go blue? Why did Porter County go blue? Is this a permanent change, or temporary?
Teresa Ray updated their profile photo
15 hours ago
7 comments:
>>Why did Indiana go blue?
I think the economy was the final straw. I also think that after the Primaries, McCain and the Republican party had to move to the center in order to win the general election. I think they failed to do that in large part because of the choice of Palin as a running mate. She made moving to the center in order to capture the Independent voters almost impossible.
>>Why did Porter County go blue?
The demographics have changed as the county has grown. More of the people moving here are from Lake Co. Indiana and Cook Co. IL, and that means most are Democrats.
On a state level I doubt the change is permanent. But it will be harder to remain a red state if Indiana's minority population remains engaged in the political process from here on out.
In Porter Co. yes the change is coming. The very development that most Porter county Republicans favor carries with it the seeds of their own political destruction because the new voters will be overwhelmingly Democrats. It is really weird when you think about it.
Really, Indiana only went partly Blue. We're still stuck with Mitch Daniels.
I think enough Hoosiers believed Obama's message. Also, McCain campaigned very little in Indiana. Obama put it in play and McCain didn't answer the challenge. The economy didn't help and neither did running a campaign for the base of the party, which alienated independents.
I second Brad's notion, PoCo went blue because of demographic shifts. Valpo is also a college town and generally, college towns swing blue.
I think it's great. It was a great election. And it was fun debating with all of you. Now it's time to unite and work together. Let's try and avoid creating a bitter opposition, it's not what Obama stands for and it's not what this election did for the country.
Barrack's team deserves accolades for a campaign well run. They succeeded where other campaigns have failed - turning out the ever idealistic, we can change the world, youth vote. Now the Democrats have a problem - how do they let their supporters down? How do they admit - we can't do most of what we promised?? How long can they blame Bush and get away with it. it is going to be interesting.
The environment/climate that the country is in deepens the way in which the state and local politics behave. More young voters came out to vote...in my opinion too many voted based on emotion rather than issues and the county’s troubled environment helped fuel the “change at whatever cost philosophy” was used brilliantly by the Democrats, it helped fuel a young vote. Sorry to say that experience, affiliations with questionable people, the sway on tax cuts levels, bankrupt the coal industry etc., didn't matter to the American people on a national level. The Republican Party needs to figure out how to campaign in the environment that is present at that time. This time it was about jobs, getting people back to work and getting the economy moving. Regardless if you agree with America or not, they didn't care that Obama didn't have much experience, ran around with Ayers, has socialistic ideas on economics...sad, but true. Perhaps they will come time. They do care about their bank accounts and in order to make those better, you better have a solid plan...beating on any other drum falls on deaf ears. McCain made strides in the last few weeks but his tone changed and he started telling it the way it was “his kind of change”. McCain couldn’t distant himself far enough away from Bush and that hurt his chances. Off years I think local candidates have a much better chance of getting their points across. It's not lost in the national spotlight regardless who moves in or out of the county.
In a national election, I didn't think Porter County changed all that much from years past based on the numbers, Dems did pretty well and all but a few of the Republicans came away winners. Was a bit surprised that the Commissioner race in District 1 between Knoblock & Murphy wasn’t closure. Better arguments, constant pressure and accountability during the course of the year help change the perception the public has in these races. To bad memories fades so fast when talking about local issues and politics.
I’m hoping that more people will hold elected officials accountable, express their views to their state representatives and take some stock in what happens to their future. If you don’t like the results and you voted, hold their feet to the fire!!!
I think Porter County went blue because the dems here are focused on protecting the good things about the county. The Republicans spend all of their time trying to be like the Western suburbs of Chicago. The people here don't want that...both Ds and Rs. Why don't the Rs see that? The grass isn't greener there. It's greener here and people like it that way.
To say we were beaten by the Ds because of Obama and/or Bush is rubbish. Just look at the difference between the number of D and R straight tickets vs. the number of votes separating winners and losers. It doesn't match up. People split their tickets. They (and locally, me) voted for the people they most thought would protect their interests. I voted for more local Ds than I thought I ever would. I'm not getting the feeling lately that the Rs would protect anything I value.
Lastly, whoever thought all of this negative campaigning would work is a fool. Beating up on an old widowed grandmother about missing meetings when her husband was dying and she was being treated for cancer? Yeah, that's a great idea. I first saw that ad in the morning and then later in the afternoon I read one of our council candidates calling this same grandmother along with the young mother of 4 opposing him - get this - Lake County style politicians. I knew the Rs were doomed.
Indiana went blue because the nation was more excited about the undefined possibility of Obama, over the fully defined McCain. We, like the rest of the nation, are a bit frustrated with a housing recession ... a credit crisis ... a federal budget that looks totally out of control ...
It's been seven years since our last terror attack, so we've lost sight of that specific problem, and now most Americans including Hoosiers are more focused on how much the war in Iraq costs each month.
Sorry to say it, but blue votes were votes for a new paradigm. I don't actually think Obama will be able to deliver ... but that is why he won here and abroad.
Obama needs some wins right out of the box come January. This will be hard when there are so many economic landmines that are going off...housing, wars, federal debt, credit, job creation and now the car industry. He won't be able to deliver all the promises. Job creation will help enormously and at all national & state levels of government.
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