Published: April 25, 2008 09:09 pm      

Local Democrats hopeful of political turnaround this election

CLAYTON — Forget red. Come November, the Democratic Party wants Hendricks County and the rest of Indiana to be blue.

Confidence reigned Friday at the annual Hendricks County Jefferson-Jackson Dinner at Martha’s Orchard. The event is named after Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, the two who are considered the founders of the Democratic Party.

Indiana House Speaker B. Patrick Bauer was the featured speaker. Democratic candidates on the state and local levels also were invited.

The state has long been considered a Republican bastion, though half of Indiana’s governors in the 20th century were Democrat. Hoosiers last supported a Democrat for president in 1964. But with this year’s primary figuring so prominently in the presidential election, Bauer sees a turning tide.

“It used to be that people here would vote Republican all their lives,” he said. “But now there’s more of them looking for solutions.”

There’s a reason Bauer says the party has attracted 400,000 new registrants statewide this year so far.

“With gas prices and foreclosures on the rise, suddenly people are a lot more interested in the policies coming from their government,” he said, citing the fact that Indiana is among the top 10 nationwide in home foreclosures.

State party leaders see the ongoing fight between Democratic presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as an advantage too. Besides drumming up interest for the primary in general, “It’s keeping us in the press,” said Nick Schmutte, former chair of the county Democrats who’s running for election in House District 40. “John McCain just isn’t getting as much coverage right now.”

All signs seemingly bode well for the Democrats currently. But Schmutte remains “cautiously optimistic.”

“There’s the feeling that things could turn in some areas (like central Indiana and the suburbs, where Republicans have long enjoyed a majority),” he said. “Whether that happens in this county remains to be seen.”

Schmutte is especially hopeful for that revolution in District 40, which includes the eastern half of Hendricks County. That’s where a lot of the demographics have changed. But Michael Herring, secretary for the Hendricks County Democrats, says much work remains.

“We’re just trying to get ourselves known in the county,” he said. “There are a lot of Democrats in the county. We’re just trying to get them unified. This is just the start.”

County Democrats meet the first Tuesday of each month, though there will be no May meeting because of the primary election. The next gathering is 6 p.m. June 3 at the Golden Eagle restaurant, 50 Old Farm Rd. in Danville. For more information, visit the website www.hendrickscodems.org.



wade.coggeshall@flyergroup.com