Indiana 9th Debate

I seldom do this, but last night I made my way to the Jennings County fairgrounds to take in the 4-way debate between the four guys fighting for the chance to take Baron Hill's seat in the US House.

Here's the cast of characters:

The Grizzled Veteran - played by Mike Sodrel
The Regular Guy - played by Rick Warren
The Lawyer/Politician - played by Todd Young
The Evangelist - played by Travis Hankins

Each candidate has a very specific and readily-identifiable set of positive and negative attributes. If there were any surprises for me in seeing this debate, they were with Sodrel and Young. I expected to be more impressed with Young and less with Sodrel, and the opposite held true.

If I were to name an overall "winner", in terms of performance, I'd have to give the nod to Sodrel. Which is something I would have bet against going in.

In my opinion, the big "loser" on the night was Young. He failed to connect with the regular folks, and wasted too much time looking petty by incessantly attacking Sodrel.

They're all conservatives, they're all republicans, and any policy differences among the four are insignificant. I'd have no problem voting for any one of them against Baron; but then again, I'd probably vote for a convicted felon if it facilitated our current congressman's immediate retirement.

Here's the breakdown of each candidate, with advantages and disadvantages:

Sodrel, the old veteran, has been there, done that. He knows the ropes, he clearly knows what he's talking about and how to navigate Washington.

His positives are experience and grasp of the issues, his 'regular guy' persona. During the debate, he was at his best when just speaking off-the-cuff, giving honest and common-sense answers to the questions posed. He was the only candidate who showed up in casual clothing, perhaps purposely attempting to differentiate himself from the others. He was especially good in responding to Todd Young's attacks with brief, concise refutations that made Young look foolish.

Sodrel's biggest negative is also his experience. He's run for the same seat against Baron Hill every cycle for as long as I can remember, and lost every time but once. He was also in office with the Republicans who made such a mess of things and got swept out by the Democrats as a result. Whether or not he supported the GOP spending spree and outrageous earmarking in his two-year stint actually matters less than the perception that he was in office at the time, and therefore part of the problem.

Warren is very much the regular guy in the race. He's far from eloquent, and obviously lacks in any identifiable qualifications for the office he seeks.

Warren's positive is his 'regular guy' approach, which is genuine. He demonstrated in the debate that he sincerely holds his views, and will hold to his principles in office.

But unfortunately, Rick will get eaten for lunch by Baron Hill's well-funded Democrat party machine.

Todd Young is the guy I've been hearing so much about, but hadn't yet seen him in person. He's a lawyer, obviously intelligent and well-spoken.

Todd's positives are his qualifications for the office, and a generally good presentation. He's sort of wonky on policy issues, and probably has very detailed proposals on the key problems faced by the country.

Todd's negatives are too many. He came off as petty and sort of the same old lawyer-politician type most regular folks feel got the country into this mess in the first place. He shouldn't have spent so much time trashing Sodrel, and the fact that no other candidate engaged in the mud slinging made him appear mean and petty. Of all the candidates, Young connected with the people in the audience the least. He came off as arrogant, and while attacking Sodrel treated the other two candidates as irrelevant.

Travis Hankins was the evangelist of the bunch. He wears his faith on his sleeve, and whenever he spoke, it sounded just like a Baptist preacher exhorting the flock.

Hankins' positives are his energy, passion, and idealism. I was convinced he was sincere in his desire to try to shake up Washington.

Hankins' negatives are not negatives from my personal perspective, but will be negatives should he earn the right to take on Baron. His emphasis on faith, morals, and values, while exciting Social Conservatives in the district, will put off the very large population of nominal and non Christians. He's also rather naieve, whether in his goals of rolling back spending to 2002 levels, building a fence along the entire southern border, or pushing through an end to abortion. All noble goals, but he can't realistically get them done in the 3 terms in which he's promised to limit himself.

In the debate, Travis irritated the crowd by several times asking the moderator to clarify that "I'm the only candidate who ....". The first time drew chuckles, but by the third and fourth repeats, he just drew groans.

If I voted my personal favorite, I'd be tempted to go with Travis. I like the idea of sending a fiery, energetic, idealistic young new face to congress. Because of the anti-Hill sentiment in the district, I think he could win, but also think he'd be very vulnerable in the next election cycle.

If I voted for the candidate best positioned to defeat Baron, I suppose it would have to be either Sodrel or Young. As mentioned above, my biggest concern for Sodrel is the 'same song, different verse'. People want real change in congress and new faces, and for better or worse, Sodrel represents the bad old days.

Strangely, I suddenly find myself wishing for one more candidate. Too late, I know. But my ideal candidate would be a local businessman, relatively young, energetic like Hankins, but obviously extremely intelligent and capable, while down-to-earth and approachable. Sort of like Mike Pence, I suppose.

How can one of these guys win my vote?

Hankins can win by toning down a tad. I'm in no way suggesting he give up the primacy of faith in all he does, but just that he brings it down just enough as to avoid turning off the voting contingent that doesn't share his faith. He also should change his speaking pattern to be less like a Baptist preacher and more conversational.

Young can win by knocking off the spitballs at Sodrel. He needs to sell me on who he is, not who Sodrel is. He also needs to find a way to be more personable, more approachable, less arrogant. That might be hard to do, since I suspect he was being himself in the debate last night.

Sodrel can't overcome his negatives, as far as I can conceive. Maybe if he talks more about what happened during his two years in office, and why those things happened, and what he learned from the experience and would do differently this time, it would help.

Unfortunately, Rick can't win my vote. I certainly like the guy, and thought he did as well as a person like him could possibly do in the debate. But he doesn't have what it takes to win the office, and I suspect he'd be swatted like a fly if he made it to Washington.

I'll keep my eye on the candidates until it's time to choose one. Then, we'll see.