"Time to Govern"

Pat Bauer and Friend in Good Spirits
Moving on from the bitter campaign, along with not a small amount of self-congratulation and even gloating, are now the messages from victorious Democrats.

Pat Bauer, faced with Republican control of the governorship and the upper house of the legislature, has volunteered to do the only thing that he can do, which is to work with Republicans.

In Jeffersonville, Baron Hill outlined his hopes on the first issues to be handled by the next Congress. Curiously missing from that list was his proposal to reform the ethics committee. Perhaps, now that he is back in office, Hill doesn't want to be overseen by people with the experience to know what is going on and why.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes him to propose that reform legislation, if he ever actually does. In the debates, he said it would be the very first thing that he would do if sent back to Washington. I maintain that having former inmates guarding the prison is crazy, but Baron Hill campaigned upon it, so he is now in a position to carry through on proposing his idea. At the very least, it deserves a debate in the new House.

From the Seymour Tribune comes Mr. Hill's more constant theme of harping upon why Mike Sodrel has called not called him to offer congratulations. Given the tone of the campaign and the clear personal animosity that developed during it--in clear contrast to prior campaigns--I find this to be hardly surprising. Sodrel conceded on election night when it was clear he could not win this year. Hill did not offer a timely concession in the face of a close contest in 2004. I suspect that Hill's "competitive streak" compels him to seek the personal satisfaction, and dare I say gloating (even psychological and in his own mind), that would come from a Sodrel congratulatory call.

I am probably not the only one to note the irony, mentioned in the Tribune, about the Iraq War hurting Mike Sodrel. The Republican did not even vote for it--though Mr. Hill did--and the voters punished Sodrel for the president's woeful use of the legal mandate granted him in 2002 by then-election-minded congressmen like Hill, who lacked the spine to stand up back then when it would have made a difference.