This year presents the opportunity to bring historic change to Indiana… again… thanks to an all-star cast of candidates who are poised to win the majority. From Dan Klein in Lake County to Cheryl Musgrave in Vanderburg and everyone in between, the state is full of House candidates whose first names will soon be, ‘Representative.’

But don’t take our word for it, go see for yourself at AimingHigherIndiana.com. There you can find your candidate, get involved in their campaign and keep up on the latest news from around the state on the Aiming Higher blog. The only thing that AimingHigherIndiana.com doesn’t have is a long-running commentary on privatizing the U.S. Postal Service… but then, it was really none of our business.

So go, be frugal, and always aim higher. We’ll see you on the other side in 77 days.

Best,

FH

You can find reports and commentary on the budget situation by clicking here.  But here’s the skinny:

Individual and Corporate income taxes exceeded projections.  People are making more money.  The downside is they don’t appear to be spending it.  Sales taxes missed projections by $9 million.

Between racinos and riverboats, gambling tax revenues exceeded projections by a combined $1.9 million.

More good news, fewer people croaked in July than the state expected.  Inheritance tax revenues were off by $4.2 million.  Always a silver lining.

If you haven’t seen the Bachelorette, it’s a compelling show about a bunch of meathead guys falling all over themselves to earn the attention and admiration of one woman. You know, kind of the way Baron Hill, Brad Ellsworth and Joe Donnelly treat Nancy Pelosi.

Here’s a twist. Usually, the final two guys propose and the Bachelorette has to choose which proposal to accept.This year, though, Ali announced her decision on Wikileaks.

WOAH!!! Breaking news as FH writes the Monoblogue: Brett Favre has announced his retirement. This is big news. But an announcement this close to the season will really leave Tamyra d’Ippolito scrambling to get the signatures required to be the Vikings new QB.

Seriously, though, in line to replace Favre is Tavaris Jackson. Jackson has been awful as Minnesota’s QB since 2006. It’s OK though, the Vikings plan to emphasize his experience as sheriff instead.

Brett Favre and Evan Bayh have a lot in common. They both retired this year. They both have two children. And neither one has finished better than second place since the 90s.

Even their wives have a connection. Deanna Favre became a public figure after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004. And Susan Bayh’s company denied Deanna coverage for her pre-existing condition.

Okay…that last joke was inexcusable. Kind of like Favre’s performance in There’s Something About Mary.

Now it’s time for the light bulb joke of the week:

MAN: Hey, how many Indiana House Democrats does it take to change a light bulb?

WOMAN: I have no idea.

MAN: Neither do they

Here’s a shocker. Depauw made the Princeton Review’s annual list of the nation’s top party schools. The Princeton Review’s rankings are notoriously fickle. Depauw has been on it, IU has been on it, Ball State has been on it. A few years ago, they waived the rules and put Dennie Oxley Jr., in the 7th spot.

What else have we missed the last couple weeks? Oh, Indianapolis sold it’s water utility to Citizens Gas. Well, it wasn’t really a sale. Indy traded the utility for Reading Railroad and a Get Out of Jail Free Card.

It was actually a great deal. The city got $425 million for road and sidewalk improvements. So next time Democrat Councilwoman Joanne Sanders gets arrested, she can sit handcuffed on a newly-paved curb.

You’ve been great folks. We have to go and prepare for tonight’s America’s Got Talent!

Maybe they were having a bad day. A really bad day.

That’s what I kept thinking last week during an hourlong meeting with Indiana House Speaker Pat Bauer and House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Crawford — an hour now in the running for My Biggest Waste of 60 Minutes This Year. Unless I end up watching an episode of “Jersey Shore” at some point, last week’s meeting will likely win the prize.

The two leading Democrats had asked to meet with a group of reporters and editors from The Star. It seemed like a good opportunity to talk about the upcoming House elections, and the ramifications that the outcomes of those races will have on the final two years of Gov. Mitch Daniels’ administration. I looked forward to hearing Bauer in particular share his views about the importance of Democratic control of the House.

But they arrived with little to say. Bauer started the meeting by pulling out a few pieces of scrap paper on which he had scribbled a few words.

“I’ve got notes, man!” he declared.

That’s all he had. — Matt Tully, Indianapolis Star

As Tully goes on to describe, Bauer’s only agenda is for Democrats to keep control of the House, because that’s important for some ill-defined reasons, and he also supports education.  Bauer doesn’t really support public education, he supports teachers unions.  Big difference.  Each election year the Indiana State Teachers Association spends over $1 million on House Democrats to buy an agenda that opposes anything that resembles education reform.

We’ve spent the better part of five years telling anyone who will listen that Indiana Democrats are void of any real vision, leadership, or ideas. Hell, here’s the very first sentence we ever wrote on this blog:

It’s difficult to remember the last time I heard Sen. Harry Reid, Rep. Nancy Pelosi or State Rep. Pat Bauer offer up an original idea.

Be sure to read the rest of Tully’s column, it’s hilarious.  You can just imagine him spending 60 minutes with two fossils of Indiana politics as they struggle for relevance in an issueless void of their own creation.

But once again, Congressman Baron Hill is marching to the beat of his own ethically-challenged drummer.

At least three Indiana Democrats accepted campaign donations from Rangel in recent years and, while two of them have given the money to charity, one of them has so far refused to react to the growing scandal on Capitol Hill.

Charlie Rangel is accused of 13 violations of Congressional ethics and federal law, most involving an alleged failure to report income. The former chair of the Ways and Means committee, is not answering questions. “You will not be able to frame any question as much as you think how good it is that I would respond,” he told reporters.

But Indiana Republicans keep posing them, especially with regard to Baron Hill. The Democratic Congressman has received $26,000 in campaign donations from Rangel and has resisted calls to give the money back.

“You know Democrats told us that they were going to deliver the most ethical Congress ever,” says Indiana GOP spokesman Trevor Foughty, “and when stuff like this comes up and people like Baron Hill look the other way it makes you wonder if they were ever serious about wanting to bring that.”

Rangel campaigned here for the late Julia Carson in 2002 and has supported other Indiana Democrats in Congress. Joe Donnelly accepted $21,000 from him and has given the money to charity. Senate candidate Brad Ellsworth gave $12,000 to charity just last Friday.

The Indiana Democratic Party declined to comment for this story because the ethics investigation is still underway but a campaign spokesman for Baron Hill defended his position. Daniel Altman says that all of the campaign contributions from Charlie Rangel to Baron Hill were made no later than 2007, prior to the beginning of the ethics investigation.

He says the money has already been spent.

Congressman Hill just can’t help himself, can he? It’s one thing when a politician can’t handle a screwball, but even when the pitcher floats an slow-pitch softball to the Congressman (see: Cap and Trade, recording town hall meetings), he always whiffs mightily.

Democrats can’t stop talking about how Congressman Hill’s $1.1 million cash on hand towers over Todd Young’s total. But if the Congressman is sitting so pretty, one would think he’d have rushed to give the money back.

A recent poll shows Republican Marlin Stutzman holds a commanding lead over Democrat Tom Hayhurst in the 3rd Congressional District race.

Stutzman paid for the poll, conducted by American Viewpoint, a Republican research firm.

The results show Stutzman leads Hayhurst nearly 2-to-1. Stutzman pulled in 56-percent of the votes. Hayhurst pulled in 29-percent. Libertarian Scott Wise received 2-percent of the vote. Stutzman also led in all 8 counties, among both men and women.

His biggest lead was in Kosciusko County, while his smallest was in Steuben County, with a 46-to-37-percent vote.

Democrats always chatter about the 3rd Congressional District and how great there chances are in any given year. We heard it last year, when Mark Souder beat Mark Mantagano with 55% of the vote. And, of course, we heard it once before with Tom Hayhurst, who lost to Mark Souder with Souder receiving — you guessed it — 55% of the vote.

But this time, say the Democrats, it’ll be different!

Hayhurst, however isn’t concerned with what theses numbers show. He told FOX Fort Wayne told:

“We believe this partisan poll is wishful thinking-the only poll that counts is on election day…we expect this race to be competitive, hard fought, and based on the issues. The real story should be that Tom Hayhurst has built a great grass roots organization with more than 500 volunteers and recently reported over 6 times more cash on hand than State Senator Stutzman.”

You know he means business when he starts referring to himself in the 3rd person. But the fact is, Stutzman is a likable, conservative guy who has built excellent name ID over the last year. The fact is Democrats couldn’t come close to holding this seat even in their best of years. In what is shaping up to be a headwind for Democrats, there’s no chance for Hayhurst this time around either.

With 0% of precincts reporting, we’re going to go ahead and call this one for Stutzman.

WASHINGTON, July 28 — Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced today that she has named Lori J. Pepper as her new Policy Advisor for agriculture, veterans, oversight, and small business issues, and will also serve as the Speaker’s liaison to the Blue Dog Coalition. Pepper begins her duties in August.

“In each of her previous roles on Capitol Hill, from representing the Blue Dog Coalition under the direction of Congressman Baron Hill to executing the agenda of the Committee on Science and Technology, Lori has proven to be a valuable asset,” Pelosi said. “She now brings her extensive experience and talent to the Speaker’s office, and I look forward to working with her as we continue to move America in a New Direction.”

Pepper most recently served as Director of Policy and Outreach for the Committee on Science and Technology for Chairman Bart Gordon of Tennessee. She also previously served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Congressman Baron Hill of Indiana.

Well. Hill and Pelosi already share values. They share the goal of taking America in this “New Direction”. They even once shared a haircut. They might as well share staff.

With her effectiveness on getting Hill to vote for Cap and Trade, Obamacare, stimulus, and more, it’s scary to think how far Hill will go for Pelosi when he’s got one of his own doing the arm-twisting.

But Evan Bayh, who has been quite the spender while on Congress, has suddenly slammed shut his wallet, and state (and national) Democrats are none too happy. An article in The Hill today talks about Bayh being stingy with his coin. Thomas Cook the on-again-off-again mouthpiece for the State Dems was critical on his blog Blue Indiana this morning.

For what it’s worth, Bayh has come under fire for this same issue just about every election cycle, and he’s always been pretty stingy with his campaign cash. So, to a certain extent, there’s precedent here which may go to explaining the reluctance to open the ol’ purse strings.

On the other hand, if the cash is being held in reserve for a future bid for statewide office, one has to wonder if the coinage might be better spent now rather than later.

If this year turns out very badly — an Ellsworth loss, a loss of the Indiana House, and the loss of at least one congressional seat — you have to think that Bayh will be spending the money anyway when it comes time to convince Hoosier Democrats that he shouldn’t be blamed for bailing during one of the toughest years on record.

We’re certain Bayh will dump more money than he has already, but a big Republican win in November could create a “too little too late” phenomenon. Not really the type of attitude you want people to have if you’re planning another run for office in the future.

U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly challenged his opponents to two debates this fall, with a letter mailed today. The Donnelly campaign sent the challenge to Republican State Rep. Jackie Walorski and Libertarian Mark Vogel (Howey Politics Indiana). Donnelly proposed that the candidates participate in a televised debate in South Bend in partnership with WNIT Public Television and The American Democracy Project at Indiana University-South Bend and another in Rochester, sponsored by The Rochester Sentinel and WROI FM. These are the same two debates that were held during the 2008 race. “At a time when so many people are becoming newly engaged in the political process and bringing with them new ideas and philosophies, I think it is important that all three candidates participate in these two debates,” Donnelly wrote in the letter. — Howey Politics Indiana

House Speaker Pat Bauer, a Democrat: “It has become increasingly apparent that any kind of fair and objective analysis of the fiscal condition of our state has to be filtered through the lens of an administration that simply cannot be trusted anymore to tell the complete story on issues like the state budget.”

To which Ryan Kitchell, state budget director to Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, replied: “Bauer’s constant attacks lack any credibility. His House voted to spend $2 billion the state didn’t have. Had we done this, we’d be bankrupt. Last time he controlled state spending, the state went totally broke. And if we listen to him again, the same result will occur.” — Indianapolis Business Journal

The problem with Bauer’s message is that it doesn’t fit with what voters believe about Mitch Daniels and they’ll dismiss the attack outright.  Bauer doesn’t have the advantage of time.  There are less than 100 days until Election Day and Bauer doesn’t have the credibility with voters on issues like spending and the role of government to turn this election on Republicans.  But Bauer’s doing what he can while the clock runs out on his career as Speaker.