By Rick Yencer

MUNCIE, IN  - Some local Indiana House Republicans intend to get rid of common construction wages and oppose renewable energy mandates after they change the social fabric of the Hoosier state.

 Around 50 people, mostly partisans, attended the event at Northside Middle School. Among the political celebrities were former Mayor Sharon McShurley and Elwood Mayor Ron Arnold, both Republicans.

 Brenda Brumfield, spokesperson  for the chamber, said it was painfully apparent that no audience and no media attention made the forum a failure in some ways.

 That much of that is because big media sees front runner Mike Pence, a Republican congressman, as the next governor and Republicans keeping safe, large ,majorities in the House and Senate.

By Brian Howey

NASHVILLE, IN - OK boys, you wanna put that hose down now?

We've never quite seen a gubernatorial campaign like John Gregg's.

First, he does have two first names, but so did Govs. James Ray, Daniel Wallace, Ashbel Willard, Albert Porter, Oliver Morton, James Williams, Ira Chase, Claude Matthews, Thomas Marshall, Harry Leslie, Ed Jackson, Emmett Branch, George Craig and Mitch Daniels. Just wanted to set the record straight on the name front.

Most Hoosiers running for governor adorn their campaigns with sophisticated images, slogans and logos. John Gregg borrowed the Pringle's Potato Chip mustache. His TV ads are folksy cornpone. His props are all vintage Sandborn, Ind., home to the Blue Jay and its loafers, and Carol's Cut & Curl. The music is closer to Hee Haw than American Idol.

By Brian Howey

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - The cat and mouse game of Mike Pence and the “moral” issues that have been a virtual trademark of his meteoric political career are now beginning to come forward in his gubernatorial campaign against Democrat John Gregg.

Pence has been nothing if not disciplined in maintaining a steady focus on jobs and education in his campaign until this point, and in a state with an 8 percent jobless rate, that’s good.

But what is fueling interest in his relative silence on moral and cultural issues are several speeches before and during his gubernatorial run suggesting that when the Indiana General Assembly is gaveled into session in January, there will be a vivid agenda up for debate.

By Brian Howey

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – It is admirable when a politician or officeholder finds or is confronted with new information that prompts a shift in position.

It can be politically dangerous, opening a politician to the charge of being a “flip-flopper.” If the position is explained with compelling data or logic in a shifting dynamic – as complex dilemmas can be - Hoosier voters are generally astute people who can be persuaded to go along.

The danger in such a swing is if the reasoning is deemed to be strictly political. In such a case, Hoosiers might just say, fetch the burgers and spatula.

Over the past two weeks, we have seen a dramatic shift in Republican U.S. Senate nominee Richard Mourdock. He raised eyebrows back in 2011 when a major theme of his campaign was that he was against bipartisanship and compromise. Up until his candidacy, I had never heard a politician take such a stance and the reason is simple: in a democracy and in a legislative and executive branch context, compromise is the lifeblood of the republic. Nothing would ever get done if two sides can’t meet somewhere.

By Brian Howey

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - The increasingly competitive Indiana U.S. Senate race will see more national money pouring in. The Majority PAC, a Democratic super 527 group, made a $500,000 TV ad buy on behalf of Democratic nominee Joe Donnelly this week.

With the meltdown of Missouri Senate Republican nominee Todd Akin after his nutty comments on rape last weekend, the prospects of more national money shifting to the deadlocked Indiana Senate race are likely to increase. Crossroads GPS and the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee have cancelled millions of dollars of TV ad buys in Missouri, once seen as a critical GOP pickup on its quest for a Senate majority. Akin is challenging U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill.

Howey Politics Indiana Columnist Mark Souder, the former Republican congressman, sees national Democratic spending for Donnelly “a more likely variable.” But he adds, “Ironically, now they have to spend in Missouri which they had surrendered. Republican money probably needs to come to Mourdock, but unless he – not others – makes a new mistake, Donnelly will start to fall and the focus will move to real battleground areas. If Mourdock is in doubt, it means the Senate will be Democratic.”

By Brian Howey

NASHVILLE, IN -  If you are an American – whether a Republican, Democrat or independent – Mitt Romney’s selection of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan to the ticket is the best thing that could have happened in this critical campaign.

Within hours of this selection, the tawdry presidential race shifted away from Bain Capital and President Obama’s birth certificate to what we should be talking about, which is the unsustainable entitlement train wreck.

In 2010, Chairman Ryan unveiled his “Roadmap for America’s Future” – using the iconic language of Gov. Mitch Daniels innovative 2004 gubernatorial campaign. It proposed to overhaul the sprawling entitlement programs that take about 40 percent of the federal budget, refashioning Medicare. It also made deep cuts into foot stamps, Medicaid and other safety net programs, as well as proposing to overhaul the tax code.

By Brian Howey

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - You remember Napoleon? The tyrant who invaded nations, installed relatives as kings, marched a million men into Russia, and came back with a few thousand. He was exiled to an island, made his escape, raised an army and returned to power, only to be routed at Waterloo.

Last week, Democratic House Minority Leader B. Patrick Bauer was toppled after a decade at the helm. He went from 52 seats in 2010 to just 40 that November, setting the stage for injurious assaults by the Republican majority on key Democratic constituencies in education, abortion rights and labor.

By Brian Howey

INDIANAPOLIS, IN  - It had been nine years since Mike Pence had run and brawled for a Congressional seat, twice unsuccessfully challenging U.S. Rep. Phil Sharp.