quite a day

The day opened with the news that Sodrel backing out on his commitment had sacked the Indiana9/IUS debate in New Albany. Originally scheduled for October 1, Sodrel came up with a fig leaf of an excuse (Congress might be in session-- on a Sunday evening and the beginning of Yom Kippur?...I don't think so!). Then, Indiana9 tried to get a new date for awhile before giving up on what is surely a frustrating process. You'd think this would be easy (in the future, it will be if I'm elected!), but Hill and now Sodrel have worked to make the debates, well, another Washington DC-style screw-up.

This evening, we asked Hill's camp if he wants to participate in some public forum on October 1. It seems like it'd be a great thing for both campaigns and a perhaps fatal blow to Sodrel's campaign-- after what has been a rough week (including guilt by association with the "push poll" controversy) and with him already down in the polls. We'll see...

The other question is why Sodrel would take a positive (given Hill's shenanigans with the run-up to the WTIU debate) and turn it into a black eye for himself-- especially when he's losing the race. One can only guess that being in the debate would cause more damage than backing out-- an amazing consideration. Then again, if one saw the first debate, maybe that's not a stretch. And perhaps he thinks that dropping half a million on TV ads will carry the day, despite this fiasco.

This evening, I attended the FOP candidate event in Columbus. Small crowd but good to meet a few people. Before that, I recorded my radio commercials for the campaign-- that was fun. We're looking forward to making our relatively little media splash. Check back with the website soon for the ads. They were fun to write, to produce, and to strategize.

good times in Bloomington

I got to do some campaigning in Bloomington this week-- first at IU's "WelcomeFest" on Wednesday and then this evening, to hear "the daily Kos" speak. Along with the debate last week, we've been hitting Bloomington pretty hard!

WelcomeFest was like a county fair with college students-- a great op to meet leaders and activists of all types. It was most striking to meet so many students with relatively exotic majors-- at least relative to what I see at our regional campus of IU in New Albany. I also interviewed with the IDS.

We got there too late to hear Kos speak. (The event was billed as running from 6-8, but the talk was over by 7:00 or so.) Among other things, he was promoting his idea about a category of voters he calls "Libertarian Democrats". I talked with Dr. Wintsch, a professor of geology for a long time. I also briefly met a bunch of people at the bookstore (including Kos) and then a handful of others at Upland (including three other economists [!] and I got to visit with Gretchen Clearwater again). A lot of encouraging words-- and a bunch of people universally saying they don't like either of my two opponents. Aside from all that: it was a fun evening for Tonia and me-- away from the kiddos for a date night. Good stuff! ;-)

debate re-cap

You can view Thursday night's debate on the web at: http://www.indiana.edu/~radiotv/wtiu/9cd_20060831.asx

Locally, you can (perhaps) view the debate on TV-- at 7:00 and 8:00 on Monday, September 4th on "Indiana9".
See http://www.indiana9.com/how_to_watch for directions on tuning in to that channel.

In a Courier-Journal poll after the debate, I've done pretty well. Although this sort of polling is unscientific, I'd rather have those numbers that 2-3%! See: http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060901/NEWS0203/60831038

The debate was an interesting and excellent experience. I thought it went pretty well, but I think I probably have substantial room for improvement. (I haven't seen the tape yet-- and it was largely a blur-- so I wouldn't want to say anything definitive yet!) In particular, I suspect that I was too tempted to look at my notes. I need a better system there-- probably with fewer, more concise notes. And I think I did pretty well in avoiding rambling answers, but could have been more direct at times and finished with a stronger sentence.

By the way, my throat held up fine-- through two classes earlier than debate and then the debate that night. (I had been diagnosed with strep throat on Wednesday afternoon and my throat was as sore on Wednesday as I can ever remember.) Thanks to those who prayed for me, to the work of the antibiotics, and to the Great Physician who covered the rest!

There were two big surprises in the debate:
1.) Keeping track of time was more difficult than I anticipated. I guess I was expecting a clock near the camera. Instead, it was on the upper right of the podium with a glare on it. So, it was difficult to keep track of time.
2.) It was more difficult than I expected to gather my thoughts with someone talking right next to me (giving his answer). It was quite a juggling act to keep in mind the original question, formulate my answer, and listen to what my opponents were saying (and consider what I might want to respond to).

Onward and upward!