However, for some, the most intriguing part of the evening was not Reggie Miller raising his #31 jersey into the rafters of Conseco Fieldhouse. It was when Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (R) was introduced to pay tribute to Reggie. When Daniels was introduced in front of the crowd of 68,000, they booed him relentlessly. I'm not talking a small smattered of jeers, hisses, and the occassional heckler. Everyone in that fieldhouse booed the utter crap out of Daniels not once, but twice during the ceremony.
Indiana is as red as it gets folks, and that was the first time I have ever seen a Hoosier crowd respond that negatively to an elected Republican Governor.
More on the flip.I know there are some Hoosier posters on here. So, they'll know what I'm talking about when I say that Daniels' reception at Conseco has me thinking that Republicans are DEAD this coming November IF the Democratic Party can field quality candidates around a unified, consistent message that has it's roots in the Midwest and Western states grassroots values.
Why do I think this? Well, a small, and brief, history lesson is required in order for me to explain.
In 2004, Mitch Daniels ran his campaign for governor based on the fact that he was buddy-buddy with President George W. Bush. He was head of Bush's Office of Budget Management from 2001-2003, and was the architect behind the disasterous Bush tax cuts. During his 20-month tenure as head of the OBM, a $236 billion annual surplus turn into a $400 billion deficit. Despite these blunders, Daniels ran his campaign from a RV, which he used to travel around the state and visit regular folks. This was vital for Daniels, who has about as much in common with regular working class folks as the King of Saudi Arabia does. Before running the OBM, Daniels was a top executive at Eli Lily, the pharmaceutical company. Daniels' opponent in the Guv race was Democrat Joe Kernan, an incumbent Governor who, just a few months before, had been the Lieutenant-Governor under Governor Frank O'Bannon. O'Bannon suffered a stroke in office in 2003, and died several days later. Kernan took over, and was pressured by the state Democratic Party to run for Governor, something Kernan had no intention of doing months prior to O'Bannon's passing despite being Lieutenant-Governor. It's also important to note that O'Bannon was very unpopular in Indiana based on an economy created by (drum-roll please) Bush's tax cuts and his moronic econmic policies.
So, it was Daniels (and his Bush friends) verses Kernan, a reluctant candidate with little money or support from the McAuliffe DNC. All throughout Indiana in 2004, you saw green bumper sticks on cars that said My Man Mitch. People were ready to embrace a Bush-bot as governor after 16 years of Democrats running the show. The race was very tight throughout despite Daniels' huge coffers and his support from the White House and Karl Rove. Hoosiers elected Daniels over Kernan 55% to 45%.
Since then, it has been all down hill for Daniels.
When he first took office, he refused to stay in the Governor's mansion, off Meridian Street on Indianapolis' north side. He stated the mansion was not up to his standards. After 45 years of governors living in that mansion, Daniels decided that a luxurious house on Indy's north side was not good enough for him. So, he bought a 1.2 acre lot in the city of Carmel, IN.
Apparently, the governor also felt the state's capital wasn't up to his standards. So, he moved to the rich city of Carmel north of Indianapolis.
Since this move, coupled with Daniels trying to push unpopular proposals at breakneck speed (especially his disasterous $3.85 billion lease of the Indiana Toll Road to an Australian-Spanish consortium to raise money for highway projects), has allowed his popularity to sink faster than Bush's since Katrina. The Indianapolis Star did a survey to measure the Guv's popularity:
So, what does all this mean for the US Congress, Senate, and the Presidency in 2008? Well, if Bush and his budget buddy Daniels are so unpopular that a public appearance by Daniels at Conseco Fieldhouse to honor a Hoosier legend turns into a bad PR move, that means Republicans throughout the country are D-O-N-E. Indiana is as red as it gets, and if this state hates Republicans, EVERYONE hates them. Daniels' numbers will sink lower after last night. And if the Democrats field a strong candidate for governor in '08, like Indianapolis Deputy-Mayor Steve Campbell (who was cheered when they announced his name at Conseco), Mitch Daniels will be one dead duck politically, and another Bush cronie is shown the door.
Moreso than any other time in American history, the state of Indiana seems primed to elect another Democratic Governor AND elect a Democratic President in 2008. That is indeed amazing, and it signals the complete and utter destruction of the Republican Party as we know it today should this happen. Indiana, for a long time, has been the reddest of red states. They voted against FDR. They voted for Goldwater. They voted for Dole. Now, it seems the state will vote for anyone who is not a Republican, and Daniels is on borrowed time as governor if he makes another public appearance like last night.