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Tuesday, August 30, 2005

IN-02: Donnelly Running Again

Posted by Tim Tagaris

Every seat counts, and this is good news. Joe Donnelly has officially decided to take on Republican incumbent Chris "Count" Chocola in 2006. Last year, Donnelly received 45% of the vote to 55% for Chocola despite being outspent more than 2 to 1.

Some things have changed. And Donnelly is in the sequel because of belief that voter opinions this time will favor him on issues of Iraq, Social Security, trade and where president Bush is leading the country. Those also were issues in the last race.

"I am going to run," Donnelly says. "It's just a matter of formalizing it."

He already is traveling throughout the 100-mile-long district stretching from the Michigan line to Kokomo. He has endorsements from Democratic chairmen at the district and county levels and from key labor unions. And he is raising funds.

Fundraising was the big issue for Donnelly in 2004. He was unable to raise the kind of money necessary to keep pace with Chocola was eventually left to fend for himself by the national party. Donnelly is a pretty conservative Democrat and according the National Review's Almanac of American Politics, likens himself to Tim Roemer (a bit disturbing to me). In the wake of the 2004 race, some tried to convince County Prosecutor Michael Dvorak to give it a run, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen any longer. A Libertarian candidate has siphoned votes away from Chocola the last two cycles, including 4% in 2000.

Posted at 05:46 PM in Indiana | Technorati