2010-01-25
Comeback Congressman: Mike Sodrel leads Rep. Baron Hill (D) by 8%
Mike Sodrel was one of several Indiana Republican Congressmen to lose his seat in the 2006 disaster. He tried running again in 2008, but joke of a campaign the McCain-Palin ticket ran destroyed any chance Republicans in Indiana and across the country had at winning back their seats. But that was then and this is now. The Democrats agenda has been utterly and completely rejected by the American people and a lot of seats that were lost in 2006 and 2008 are looking winnable again in 2010.
How winnable? Well, according to Survey USA, Former Congressman Sodrel is enjoying a 49% to 41% lead over the liberal incumbent who ousted him four years ago.
If Sodrel's name sounds familiar, it's because we've discussed him, Baron Hill, and Indiana's 9th Congressional District before. This is the land of moderate Democrats. In 2002, Baron Hill won the district by 5%. In 2004, Mike Sodrel won by less than 1%, but that was with a Libertarian candidate pulling in 2%. In 2006, Hill won the seat back by 4%. In 2008, Sodrel lost by 20% (58-38) with the Libertarian candidate pulling in 4%.
Now, under any other circumstances after a 20% loss, I would say that running Sodrel again would be a disaster. So why is this situation unique? Well, first and foremost is the quality of Mike Sodrel as not only a candidate, but as a human being. This is honestly a top notch, stand up guy and somebody Republicans should WANT to represent them in every district. So he has that going in his favor.
What's more, 2006 and 2008 were NOT good election years for Republicans. Both years, instead of working to help our candidates, the National Republican Party has been working overtime to give Republicans a reason not to come to the polls. That's why states like North Carolina and Indiana, as red of states as one might imagine, went blue in 2008.
The Republican Party really hasn't given us too many reasons to come to the polls in 2010. Luckily (if you can call it that), the Democrats have been doing a great job at giving conservatives a reason to come out to the polls. The truth of the matter is that the Democrats' excessive wins in 2006 and 2008 have been flukes brought about by political incompetency by GOP "leaders" at the national level - not necessarily individual Republican lawmakers.
And Mike Sodrel is proof of that. Despite losing by a landslide in 2008, the former Congressional Representative of the district is actually ahead in the polls right now because grassroots conservatives have realized they can no longer afford to be apathetic to the political battles we're engaged in - even if the RNC and NRSC are. Mike Sodrel and scores of hard working, loyal Republicans like him have been the hardest hit victims of the incompetency in our party's leadership.
Thankfully, Republicans are starting to realize that and the former Congressman of Indiana's 9th Congressional District is poised to take the grassroots momentum all the way back to Washington, DC. I wish Mike Sodrel and his campaign staff the absolute best of luck this year. Their hard work is an integral part of ousting Nancy Pelosi from her position as Speaker of the House and derailing the liberal agenda of her and the Rubber Stamp living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
You can learn more about Mike Sodrel and how to support his campaign by visiting his campaign website at http://www.mikesodrel.com.
