OK, winning NC and VA is really impressive. CO? A great get. OH, FL? Solid. IA and NM? Paint 'em blue. NV? What happens in Vegas.... But IN? I-N-D-I-A-N-A? Indi-friggin'-ana? You mean Indiana as in Bush 60% Kerry 39%?
Indiana as in basketball, car racing, and cornfields? Former KKK stronghold? THAT Indiana?
I originally posted this diary on Daily Kos this morning and was prompted to cross post here. Sounded like a reasonable request...so here goes my first post on Blue Indiana.
If Indiana turns blue at last, it won't be simply because of overwhelming turnout in Lake County or the Democratic cities like Indianapolis and Bloomington. If Indiana turns blue, it will be because Indiana Hoosiers are disgusted with the Bush Administration... and because Obama has run a terrific ground offensive in this state. He has done what many (including myself) might have thought impossible: he is making serious headway in the wealthy Republican suburbs that ring Indianapolis:
Bruce Babcock, a lifelong Republican and a retired executive with a Fortune 100 company, had no reluctance about advertising his newfound political allegiance with an Obama sign. "Bush has not done a very good job. And the Republicans don't deserve another chance at all." Babcock's last words were designed to underscore that he has no animus toward McCain: "They'd have to resurrect Lincoln to get me to vote Republican."
On Saturday, Mrs. Dragon and I joined about 20 other volunteers here in Kokomo, IN to canvass Obama supporters to vote early and to persuade undecided voters. We knocked on 58 doors, and we were encouraged by the response.
While many were not home, we got positive responses from the vast majority of those we spoke with, even undecideds. We saw lots and lots of Obama yard signs and signs in windows. We saw a few McCain signs, but not nearly as many as Obama.
Below is a re-print of a diary my wife posted on Daily Kos last night. It is an interesting read. Also, we are in a contest as she mentions at the end. PFAW and Howie Klein are sponsoring it and we are trying to get as many one dollar donations as possible, so as tedious as it will be, instead of giving twenty dollars, give one dollar twenty times. The one with the most donors gets DCCC money and we can use that for targeted cable ads. Help if you can and spread the word about the contest. Thanks BW
Below is an op/ed that we are releasing to the traditional media later this evening. This will be cross posted on other blogs but is here first. Also feel free to cross post on your own blogs if you desire.
Thanks
For those that do not know, I am Barry Welsh and I am the Democratic Congressional Candidate in Indiana's 6th District and a longtime member of the Netroots.
Last night I had a unique opportunity. I sat at a table with five patriots.
I listened as they talked on their individual expertise with passion. I could not help but think back over the history of this nation, and how many times conversations like the one I was listening to became a spur to progress. From the revolution that brought the birth of this nation, to the industrial revolution, to the technological revolution, all were fueled by the passion of progressive visionaries
(Bumped from the user diaries. - promoted by Thomas)
Things have been hectic since we had our voter explosion in the primary. For those that don't know, here in this district of Indiana, my opponent had a decrease in his primary base of over 5500 voters in a Presidential year, and we had an increase of over 70,000 new voters across the district. We doubled my opponent's vote total when all was said and done. We have him in a position he has never been in before. It is an exciting and hopeful time here in East Central Indiana. Oh and also he keeps putting his foot in his mouth, so that doesn't hurt.
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to John Good as the official campaign blogger for the Barry Welsh For Congress campaign. John is best known for his work at his own blog, Left In Aboite, as well as at Fort Wayne Left and Blue Indiana. John has agreed to join the campaign as lead blogger and blog team coordinator, or "coach" as we are calling him.
John is a great fit for our team ideologically and is a fantastic writer whose style is both thought provoking and entertaining to read. He lives with his family in the Ft. Wayne suburb of Aboite where he operates a small business logistics operation. He has worked on several Democratic campaigns as a volunteer and recently worked on the Tom Hayhurst for Congress campaign, so he does bring Congressional campaign experience to the table as well.
I look forward to his postings which will appear on our main blog at http://blog.barrywelsh.org, but he will also be posting to other group blogs such as Blue Indiana, DailyKos, MyDD, Open Left and Booman Tribune regularly as well. Be sure to check out his first post on the official campaign blog, and please take time to leave a comment to welcome John to the Barry Welsh For Congress campaign!
(Bumped from the user diaries. Why not head over and give Barry's new blog a visit? - promoted by Thomas)
The Barry A. Welsh For Congress campaign today unveiled the new official blog on their website, located at http://blog.barrywelsh.org. The new blog will feature posts from the candidate himself as well as blog team members, communications staff and the occasional guest post from friends and allies of the campaign. The blog will be used to make regular posts with items of interest relating to the campaign, recent podcasts, interviews online and more.
(Bumped from the user diaries. - promoted by Thomas)
Join us on BlogTalkRadio today at 12 noon for the weekly edition of Barry Says - a weekly campaign news update and opinion show hosted by Barry Welsh, Democratic candidate for US House in the Indiana 6th district running against Rep. Mike Pence (R- Iraqi Markets).
This week Barry will be tackling the issue of 3 Indiana cities appearing on the 10 most impoverished cities in America list released by the Census Bureau, including the 6th District city of Muncie which is the 6th most impoverished city in America. Barry will also update folks on how our Blue America event did this past Saturday and discuss upcoming events as well.
(Bumped from the user diaries. - promoted by Thomas)
Blue America is the weekly candidate profile and question and answer session conducted at FireDogLake every Saturday. Barry Welsh is the featured guest of Gueast Host and FDL Founder Jane Hamsher this week sitting in for Howie Klein, Blue America founder.
The Blue America blog entry will post at 2pm EDT and will include an introduction by Jane Hamsher and Howie Klein, and was written by yours truly. I explain in detail to the community at FireDogLake that I have been a part of for so long why I am supporting Barry.
I hope you will join us for the chat session that takes place via the comments section where Jane Hamsher will moderate questions for Barry and make appeals for funds for the campaign to the site visitors. Please drop by between 2pm and 4pm and take part to show the nation Indiana supports Barry Welsh for Congress.
For those who are nearby and would like to take part in the public event we are having at Paradise Bakery in Castleton on the northside of Indianapolis, we will be there conducting the chat session.
UPDATE: The UStream feed didnt work ot, sorry for that, we will have YouTbe footage up later.
Hosted here and cross posted across The Netroots Nation. Feel free to copy and pass along. BW
I'm running for Congress for the second time. I made the formal announcement during the YearlyKos Convention in Chicago. Video of the announcement will be up soon. A rough transcript is at the bottom of this piece. A complete Digital Roll Out of the campaign is on the way.
I also want to talk about BlueDog Democrats and will do that below as well.
I have to say Thank You to several people. You are probably one of them.
Twenty-First Century Democrats is in the middle of our Annual Youth Leadership Speakers Series. We put on this program in order to provide a chance for the interns who flood Washington DC during the summer to hear real progressive leaders. These young people come to DC with high idealism and a desire to change the world, yet too often they only find cynicism and complacency.
At a time when bad news about the war dominates public dialogue, it has been energizing to hear from progressive leaders with integrity and courage. We encourage our speakers to talk about big ideas and their bold vision in America. One of our endorsed candidates from 2006, freshman Representative Chris Murphy (D-CT), really cut to the heart of why we don't hear big ideas any more, why as a public we aren't inspired. It really made me think.
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