How Daniels Won Indiana's Legislature
National Review reports:
Right after the 2008 general election, in which Barack Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Indiana since Lyndon Johnson, Gov. Mitch Daniels decided it was the perfect time to stage a Republican comeback. His goal was to win a GOP majority in the state house of representatives, which had been Democrat-controlled since 2006.
On Election Day this year, Daniels succeeded: The GOP gained a majority in the house and picked up enough seats in the state senate to give Republicans a supermajority. The careful planning begun in 2008 and intensified in 2009 by Daniels and other Indiana Republican leaders had paid off.
The importance of gaining a legislative majority is illustrated by the 2009 budget fight, one of the most contentious the state has had in recent years. Democrats and Republicans disagreed on many things, most notably how much to increase education spending and whether the state should use some of its reserve fund. When legislators were unable to pass a budget in the regular session, they went into special session. Ultimately, just hours before the state government would have had to shut down, they passed a budget that used $300 million of the state’s reserve fund and increased education spending more than Republicans would have liked.
The grueling experience made it clear that passing a truly conservative budget would require GOP majorities in both chambers. So Daniels and state Republicans chose their battles carefully. “[We] analyzed the Democrat-held districts where the governor had done well in 2008 or even McCain [had done well], and determined . . . target districts, and then went about to recruit candidates,” says Indiana Republican chairman Murray Clark.
Instead of automatically picking local political veterans, they looked for promising outsiders, including business leaders and other non-political types. “Most of them had never run for any office before,” says Clark, talking about the candidates backed by Daniels’s Aiming Higher PAC. “None of them, to my knowledge, have any desire to become a career politician.” Many of the possible nominees liked the governor and his policies but were unsure if they wanted to run for office. When that happened, Daniels often intervened, calling and speaking directly to the potential candidate. “He was a game changer. He was a difference maker,” adds Clark, saying that many reluctant novices went on to run — and win.
The 2009–10 Indiana house had 52 Democrats and 48 Republicans. The newly elected house has a much different composition: Assuming a Republican wins a recount as expected, it will have 60 Republicans and 40 Democrats. Some of the districts won by Republicans had been held by the Democrats for two or more decades.
“We essentially ran on a message of balance the budget, keep taxes low, and that’ll create more jobs,” says Brian McGrath, executive director of the Aiming Higher PAC. They also started early, with candidates going door-to-door and raising money as soon as the fall of 2009. Candidates were helped financially by the PAC, which handed out over $1 million.
