This noncompetitive state saw little of the presidential campaign; the main focus was the gubernatorial race between incumbent Gov. Joe Kernan (D) and former Bush OMB Director Mitch Daniels (R).  Daniels associated himself with President Bush when the President and later the First Lady visited Indiana and his campaign ran a late television ad featuring Bush.  Daniels prevailed in this contest, breaking Democrats' 16-year hold on the State House.  Democrats also suffered the surprising defeat of Congressman Baron Hill (D) by businessman Mike Sodrel (R) in the 9th CD (southern Indiana).

Kerry actually had a tiny Indiana campaign.  Mike Harmless, former mayor of Greencastle chaired the effort and Erin Rosenberg, a 2004 graduate of Indiana University, took off a semester from law school at IUPUI to work on the campaign for the last four months.  Harmless said that at one point polls provided some optimism, but then the bottom started to fall out.  Nonetheless there was plenty of work to do such as voter registration, and reaching out to various constituencies including African-Americans, Latinos and labor unionists.  There were 100 to 150 committed volunteers who needed meaningful work.  In September volunteers started doing phone banking, calling into battleground states such as Ohio and Florida.  About 40 people were also making trips to Ohio.  (Dayton is about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Indianapolis and Columbus about 3 1/2 hours).

There were some other peripheral connections to the presidential campaign.  The South Bend Regional Airport makes South Bend a good starting point for forays into Southwestern Michigan.  President Bush (May 3) and Vice President Cheney (Oct. 15) used South Bend as a gateway for bus tours into Michigan.  Republicans in Evansville, wanting to show their allegiances, went over to Kentucky to get yard signs.
 

Bush-Cheney '04	Kerry-Edwards 2004
Organization details...	details...
BC'04 State Chair: Sen. Richard Lugar Indiana Republican Party State Chair: James L. (Jim) Kittle, Jr. Exec. Director: Luke Messer Office: 47 S. Meridian Street, Indianapolis	KE Chair: Mike Harmless Coordinator: Erin Rosenberg Indiana Democratic Party State Chair: Kip Tew Exec. Director: Dan Parker Office:

Travel

BUSH-CHENEY	KERRY-EDWARDS
September 13, 2004 -LB greeted by Mitch Daniels at Indianapolis International Airport; attends a Victory 2004 dinner at the home of Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Tony George in Indianapolis, IN.  (Raises $750,000).  May 3, 2004 Arriving at South Bend Regional Airport, GWB made a brief appearance with gubernatorial candidate Mitch Daniels, then boarded the bus for his first bus tour, in Michigan.  (Daniels used footage of this appearance in a TV ad that ran starting in late October).  April 23, 2004 -DC remarks at an evening reception for gubernatorial candidate Mitch Daniels at Union Station Grand Hall and Conference Center in Indianapolis, IN.  ($)  Also: On the morning of October 15 DC and LC started a Michigan bus tour in South Bend.	July 6, 2004 -JK remarks on responsible leadership at the African Methodist Episcopal Church’s 47th Quadrennial Conference at the Indianapolis Convention Center in Indianapolis, IN.  (This was Kerry's first event after he announced selection of Sen. Edwards).

Newspaper Endorsements source: Editor & Publisher

BUSH The Indianapolis Star  (10/17/04) Evansville Courier & Press  (10/24/04) The News-Sentinel [Fort Wayne]  (10/25/04) Kokomo Tribune Palladium-Item [Richmond]  (10/28/04)

KERRY The Times [Munster]  (10/24/04) > The Journal Gazette [Fort Wayne]  (10/22/04) Journal and Courier [Lafayette]  (10/29/04)

Third Party and Independent
Ballot Access
Independent or minor party candidates running statewide needed to obtain signatures of 2% of the total votes cast for secretary of state in the 2002 general election (29,552 signatures) and submit them by 12:00 noon "prevailing local time" on June 30, 2004.

Candidate Notes
>Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh was subject of a minor amount of speculation as a possible running mate for Sen. Kerry.
>Libertarian nominee Michael Badnarik was born in Hammond and went to Indiana University.  His mother, Elaine, was the Libertarians' 2004 candidate for Lieutenant Governor in Indiana.

State Coordinators
Badnarik - Jeff Smith
Nader - Dallas Stoner

Candidate Visits
NADER-CAMEJO
June 13, 2004
-Meeting with volunteers at Indiana University-Perdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Campus-Downtown in Indianapolis.

April 24-25, 2004
April 24
-Rendezvous with Ralph-thank you meeting with contributors at University Place Conference Center and Hotel in Indianapolis.
-Speech, media availability, book signing at Indiana University-Perdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in Indianapolis.
Drive to Bloomington.
-Campaign speech/meeting with volunteers, book signing at IU in Bloomington.
April 25
-Breakfast with volunteers, book signing at TGI Friday's Restaurant in Mishawaka.

COBB-LaMARCHE
--

BADNARIK-CAMPAGNA
Late June-early July visit-no details.
 

Copyright ©  2004, 2005  Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.

IN Republican Party www.indgop.org	IN Democratic Party www.indems.org
Libertarian Party of IN www.lpin.org	IN Green Party www.indianagreenparty.org	Constitution Party of IN www.freewebs.com/cpindiana
			...Governor
Mitch Daniels (R) www.mymanmitch.com	Joe Kernan (D) www.kernandavis.com	Kenn Gividen (L) www.gividenforgovernor.com
			...Senator
Marvin Scott (R) www.marvinscott.org	Evan Bayh (D) www.evanbayh.com	Al Barger (L) www.morethings.com/senate