On November 27, 2005, Frugal Hoosiers sprang to life on the internets as a collaborative blog written by a small network of young Republican politicos around Indiana. Our first virtual thought began,

“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.”

It’s hard to believe that three years and three elections later, we’re still waiting. In the meantime, we’ve sharpened our blogging skills while watching Indiana embrace far-reaching and forward-thinking change for the first time in as long as anyone can remember.

But Frugal Hoosiers the organization began well before Frugal Hoosiers the website, and our history is tied directly to the progress we’ve enjoyed cheerleading over the last three years. Founded in late 2002 under the name Frugal Hoosiers for Mitch, the group’s original focus was to convince Mitch Daniels to run for Governor. The Statement of Purpose on the original paperwork was to the point, if not snarky (a foreshadowing of the tone the blog would adopt a few years later):

“To get Mitch Daniels to run for governor. This committee is formed without the authorization or knowledge of Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. In fact, he probably would prefer that we just go away and bother someone else.”

Raising money $10 at a time from hardworking, every day Hoosiers, the group hoped to show a real desire for political and governmental change amongst Hoosiers, and to use that argument to convince Mitch to run. In June 2003, they succeeded as My Man Mitch kicked off his campaign and the rest is history.

Shortly after the launch of FrugalHoosiers.com, the name was officially shortened to Frugal Hoosiers PAC, and shifted focus from a support organization for Mitch Daniels to a support organization for any Hoosier politician who puts fiscal responsibility and continued conservative progress above all else. Three years and over a million hits later, we’re here today trying to put the “Action” back into Political Action Committee.

In early 2009, we launched Frugal Hoosiers 4.0, an expansion of the blog that began to focus on grassroots advocacy as well as the continued promotion of fiscally conservative ideas. Chief among the new features of FH 4.0 was the implementation of a legislation tracker complete with easy links to contact state legislators and media outlets, just in time for a historic budget year. As we begin to identify which legislators really are “Frugal Hoosiers” themselves, we look forward to the 2010 and 2012 elections as we plan to take an active role in helping those candidates who continue to favor change versus more of the same.