No Positive Campaign for You: Ever the Coward, Baron Refuses Sodrel Olive Branch

If you held your breath waiting for a positive campaign or a civilized discussion of ideas from Baron Hill, you're going to need to keep holding it.

Yesterday, Mike Sodrel proposed a bipartisan commission to referee ads in the 9th District race and keep the campaign positive.

He also proposed twenty debates, one in every county in the 9th District.

I told you it was never to be.

From the News & Tribune:

Sodrel calls for order
Hill: No dice to challenger’s proposal for ad committee, town hall meetings

Republican congressional candidate Mike Sodrel wants an independent committee to evaluate all political advertisements related to the campaign between himself and Democratic Party incumbent Baron Hill. He’s also proposing a series of 20 town hall style forums.

Hill responded to the proposals with a letter that didn’t address the specifics of either idea.

Sodrel’s proposal is an effort to raise the level of discourse during Indiana’s 9th District congressional race, a press release from the campaign said. Campaigns between the two in the last six years have featured a host of negative advertisements. Sodrel admits that 2006’s effort was “a pretty ugly campaign to behold.”

“Congressman Hill said he wanted to ‘elevate the level of discourse’ during this campaign, so my proposal to him will help accomplish that,” Sodrel said.

Sodrel sent the proposal to Hill in the form of a letter, dated July 29.

An independent committee should be established to evaluate all political advertisements, Sodrel said in his letter. The committee would respond to complaints regarding truthfulness or appropriateness of ads. Though it could not regulate the ads being put out by national parties and political action committees, Sodrel said the committee could set the record straight.

It would be made up of five members. Hill would appoint two republicans , Sodrel would appoint two democrats and the fifth member would be appointed by the other four.

They also would set forth ground rules for all advertisements and candidates would not have veto power over the rules it establishes.

Hill sent a return letter that did not address any of the specifics of Sodrel’s proposal...

He also accused Sodrel of closing his offices early after being defeated in 2006 and refusing to transfer constituents’ casework upon leaving office.

The two are running against each other for the fourth time. Hill won in 2002. Sodrel bested him in 2004 and held the seat until Hill took it back in 2006. Eric Schansberg, a Libertarian candidate for the same office, ran in 2006 and is on the ballot for November’s contest.

Hill wants Sodrel to apologize before he’ll agree to talk about campaign issues with him.

The second part of Sodrel’s proposal calls for 20 town hall-style debates, one in each county in the 9th Congressional District. Sodrel said he hopes Hill at least counters the offer.

Hill responded to that part of the request by saying that time is running out and that he already has commitments to which he has to attend.

Baron Hill won't let the 9th District have a peaceful election. He is counting on his lefty allies in Indianapolis, Washington, and San Francisco to run an unequaled campaign of negative attacks and personal smears to cover up his liberal voting record, snow over Hoosier voters, and send him back to Congress.

Your mailbox will overflow, your phone will never stop ringing, and your television will have nothing but non-stop negative ads if Baron has his way.

Hill's liberal allies have already pledged $1.6 million in negative firebombing for the 9th District, and before it is all said and done they'll easily spend three or four times that to try and send Baron back to Congress to continue voting the way they tell him to.

Baron Hill's not about to agree to a bipartisan commission to assure a clean and positive campaign; he doesn't want one.

Baron wants another repeat of 2006, and he first went negative on Mike Sodrel last year, when Sodrel wasn't even a candidate yet.

Baron will trot out the same old, tired, discredited lies and his liberal allies will go back to the same old handbook for their campaign tactics.

And here I thought Baron was endorsing Obama because he wanted to get away from the politics of the past; turns out he just wants to give us more of the same.

Baron and his liberal buddies have a lot to cover up, because it will take a king's ransom to pull the wool over the eyes of Hoosier voters a second time and hide that Baron Hill is just a rubber stamp for Barack Obama and San Francisco liberals.

And Baron isn't interested in debates, either.

He doesn't want to have to talk about his record.

He doesn't want to have to defend his votes against funding for the troops.

Or his votes against wiretapping for terrorists.

Or his votes for more money for Planned Parenthood.

Or his votes for money for overseas abortions.

Or his votes for higher taxes.

Or his endorsement for Barack Obama, America's most liberal senator, and against the votes of his own party in his own district.

And let's not forget his many votes to against oil drilling.

Despite Baron Hill's campaign promise in 2006 to lower gas prices, gasoline costs almost twice as much as it did when Baron returned to office.

Baron has a lot to answer for, so it's no surprise that he's running off like a coward, afraid to defend his record.

He has no record worthy of defense.

He's afraid to debate.

In fact, he won't debate in every county, because 19 of the counties in this district don't mean a darn to him.

I'd bet that Baron will agree to debate in just one.

And you can guess which one that will be. He'll agree to a debate in the only county that really matters to him.

I bet that he'll agree to a single debate, in the People's Republic of Bloomington.

Just wait and see.