Daniels makes his re-election bid official

INDIANAPOLIS — Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels told hundreds of people gathered in a carnival-like scene Saturday that he will seek a second term, pledging to pursue more progressive changes even if they are unpopular.

“This meeting of the movement for Indiana change will please come to order,” Daniels said in opening remarks outside Hinkle Fieldhouse at Butler University.

It was the same place where he began a months-long RV tour of the state in 2003 on his way to defeating Democratic Gov. Joe Kernan the next year. He pulled up to the speaker’s stage in the same “RV 1” he traveled Indiana in his first campaign, although the hundreds of black-marker signatures of the past had been painted over.

After a short speech that drew both cheers and laughter, people surrounded the RV to scroll new signatures on it in support of another run.

People braved the heat and packed the big Hinkle parking lot, many wearing green shirts and sporting stickers with the “My Man Mitch” motto that was Daniels’ campaign slogan the last time.

Several tent booths were set up, including ones to gather signatures to get Daniels on the ballot, hand out Mitch T-shirts, and serve hot dogs, hamburgers and other eats.

There was even a “Mutts for Mitch” booth where people could get green bandanas for their dogs, and there were a lot of pooches wearing them.

“We came here because we believe Mitch Daniels is doing the right things for the state,” Sue Uhl of Lizton said. “He’s out throughout the whole state and he’s listening to everybody.”

Daniels talked briefly about what he considered accomplishments so far, including erasing a big budget deficit, imposing higher ethical standards in state government, creating more jobs and paving the way for many new highway projects.

The latter was through his leasing of the Indiana Toll Road to a private venture for an upfront payment of $3.8 billion. He acknowledged he had pushed for some contentious proposals and said he would not waver from more if he was re-elected.

“You will hear straight talk,” he said. “If our problems are severe, we will not sugarcoat them. If the solutions we believe are best for Indiana are controversial, we will not flinch in proposing them.”

Daniels said many Democrats embraced his agenda of change, but Jennifer Wagner, spokeswoman for the state Democratic Party, said many had not. She acknowledged Indiana is a Republican-leaning state and it would take a lot of money for a Democrat to beat Daniels. But she said it was possible.

“This governor is vulnerable, he’s done things that are unpopular, and that’s why you see him starting now,” Wagner said. “He’s 18 months out now and he has to rebuild his reputation.”

There were few signs of opponents, but Bill Boyd of Indianapolis stood along the street to Hinkle Fieldhouse waving one that said “Ditch Mitch.” He said he voted for Daniels in 2004 and now regrets it — in part because Daniels successfully won statewide observance of daylight saving time and leased the Indiana Toll Road to a foreign, private venture.

“He gave us the old Hoosier drawl, I’m a good-old boy kind of deal, and as soon as he got elected he turned his back on the people,” he said.

Locally, Daniels has taken criticism during his first term in letters to the editor complaining about daylight saving time and the Bureau of Motor Vehicle’s decision to close the Brownstown license branch. Other letter writers, however, have supported those decisions as being forward-thinking in the case of the time switch and frugal in the case of the BMV.