John Hostettler to challenge Evan Bayh

[Jordan]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30176.html

Former Rep. John Hostettler (R-Ind.) announced Thursday that he will challenge Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh in 2010.

In a YouTube video, Hostettler repeatedly ties Bayh to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, blaming the pair for what he calls a failed economic stimulus package.

“Hoosiers need real jobs created by real companies that are not taxed and regulated to death by new big government boondoggles like government-run health care and cap-and-trade,” Hostettler says. “These new programs will only push jobs out of Indiana.”

Hostettler’s 12-year House career ended in 2006 in a crushing loss against now-Rep. Brad Ellsworth. During his time in Congress, Hostettler ranked among the most conservative members, and often proved to be a thorn in the side of House Republican leadership.

Bayh, a contender to be Barack Obama’s running mate in 2008 and an oft-mentioned prospective candidate for national office, won reelection in 2004 with 62 percent of the vote.

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Used to be my congressman in the house, now he's running for senate.

His issues would definitely qualify him to be a "liberty candidate"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hostettler

[erowe1]

This is big news!

He's not a Ron Paul clone. But he's a staunch conservative. He was one of 6 Republicans to vote against the Iraq War. He had a consistent (relatively) noninterventionist and anti-globalist foreign policy. He also gave tea party speeches this summer calling for totally abolishing the income tax and replacing it with nothing. And he voted for Chuck Baldwin in 2008.

Pros: in addition to the solid policy positions I mentioned, he's a former 6-term congressman who's popular among Indiana conservatives and is easily now the biggest name Republican to have thrown his hat in the race to challenge Bayh this coming year.

Cons: He voted for the Patriot Act, and he supports a bigger surge in Afghanistan than what Obama wants.

All in all, I support him. And I think he should be included among our 2010 liberty candidates.

[erowe1]

See his announcement here:
http://www.youtube.com/johnhostettler

And then sign the petition on his website here:
http://johnhostettler.com/blog/

[Austin]

Uh-oh... my summer might just got a lot more eventful..

I'll be doing some serious thinking over the next few weeks to determine how much support, if any, Hostettler will get from me.

[erowe1]

I'll be doing some serious thinking over the next few weeks to determine how much support, if any, Hostettler will get from me.

I think that's a good way to look at candidates. I make a point not to divide politicians into two categories: the one's I'll support without reservation with everything I've got, and others that I won't support at all. There's a range of support. On one end are the ones I don't really care for, but I'll end up voting for them over the other guy when election day comes. On the other end is Ron Paul, whom I gave more than I ever thought I would in time, effort, and money for a politician and will do it again if he runs in 2012. But there is a whole spectrum in between. There are some, especially local ones I like, where I'll send them 20 bucks once, or maybe take an afternoon to help with some campaign activity. And there are some, like Rand, where I put him a notch below his dad and don't mind criticizing certain things, but strongly want to help him win and am making a point to donate sacrificially for him. To me personally, Hostettler is somewhere between the last two kinds, and probably closer to the Rand portion of the specctrum.

[erowe1]

Here's a Hostettler for Senate FB group:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=55158541316

[Badger Paul]

Good News! And he can go after Bayh for his support of Obama's war.

[Jordan]

Good News! And he can go after Bayh for his support of Obama's war.

This election is going to be held in Indiana...

[erowe1]

What are good ways to spread the word among noninterventionist conservatives about this race to help build support?

[erowe1]

I thought this blog gave a pretty good analysis of the Hostettler factor in the Indiana Senate race:
http://hoosierpundit.blogspot.com/20...evan-bayh.html

[Cowlesy]

I like anyone that we can nickname "The Hoss."

[erowe1]

I like anyone that we can nickname "The Hoss."

Nice.

Unfortunately, the way he pronounces his name, it would be "The Hose."

[erowe1]

Bump.

[Jordan]

Blimp

[TCE]

He's gonna need to heavily out raise Bayh to even have a ghost of a chance. He is a former governor and extremely popular in Indiana. Even with 2010 on par to be a huge swing year for Republicans, any opponent of Bayh will need an incredible amount of monetary support and plenty of campaigning.

[erowe1]

The John Birch Society gives periodic scores to every member of the House and Senate according to key votes they cast. Nowadays it's called the Freedom Index. It used to be called the Conservative Index.

I've been trying to find the old Conservative Indexes from the years Hostettler was in the House and haven't been very successful, but I did find this one site that has archives of 2004-2004. As you can see, Hostettler scored quite well. He was by far the most conservative member from Indiana every single time, and was always one of the top scorers in the entire House. To give you an idea of where they are coming from in how they score people, Ron Paul is usually the top scorer, often with a score of 100.
http://www.lloydbaileysscuba.com/tru...ativeIndex.php

I'm not a JBS member. I don't know if anyone who is might know where you can dig up the rest of the Conservative Indexes from 1995-2006, but it would be nice to have those to show other conservatives who arean't sure whom they should support in the GOP primary.

[erowe1]

Someone put a very positive announcement on this in the Daily Paul:
http://www.dailypaul.com/node/118115

John Hostettler Running for Senate in Indiana!
Posted December 6th, 2009 by SteveH
Don't know if anyone else posted this, but better multiple times than never. Dr. Paul's old friend from the House, former Rep. John Hostettler announced this week that he will run for Senate.

Hostettler, you may remember was one of only 5 Republicans to join Dr. Paul in voting against the Iraq War and the only one who wasn't identified as a Rockefeller Republican. On domestic issues, he was a frequent guest of Dr. Paul's Tuesday afternoon "Liberty Caucus" meetings. Since losing for re-election in the 2006 Democrat sweep of Congress he has started a publishing company and written the book "Nothing for the Nation" about the Iraq disaster. In 2008, he shunned John McCain and voted Chuck Baldwin for President.

With all due respect to Dr. Rand Paul and Peter Schiff, and by all means lets do everything we can to elect them, but Congressman Hostettler may be our best chance to get an advocate for peace and liberty in the Senate. As a former elected official, he'll start with a lot of name recognition and a base of support in addition to the freedom movement. In a closely divided state like Indiana with 2010 possibly being a big Republican year, he'll have a great chance.

Only website so far is his blog - http://johnhostettler.com... but stay tuned!

[Imperial]

The only problem is that Bayh has been banking up for campaigns for years, and today he has $12.7 million saved up. However, Hostettler traditionally relies more on grassroots than fundraising.

I don't see Hostettler winning; however, if he makes a strong run it could give him more influence in the Indiana party and set him up for another run.

[erowe1]

The only problem is that Bayh has been banking up for campaigns for years, and today he has $12.7 million saved up. However, Hostettler traditionally relies more on grassroots than fundraising.

I don't see Hostettler winning; however, if he makes a strong run it could give him more influence in the Indiana party and set him up for another run.

All good points. It's definitely a David and Goliath race.

I try to take a more glass-is-half full approach.

Sometimes the candidate whose vicotory is a foregone conclusion ends up losing or leaving the race for some unforeseen reason. Sometimes underdogs just catch the perfect storm and still win. And sometimes the whole political climate shifts from one side to another in a short amount of time. It's already looking like Republicans will pick up seats in 2010. It may not look like a 1994 scenario yet. But it could still become that between now and next November. And Indiana is still a red state.

Would I put money on Hostettler against Bayh today if I were a betting man? No. But we have to run as many candidates as we can as often as we can and expect to lose most of the time if we want to catch those unpredictable underdog victories.

And lets not understate how solid of a candidate we have in Hostettler too. He's not some no-name guy we recruited out of nowhere just to have another so-called liberty candidate. He's a 6-term congressman who's well-liked among conservatives in Indiana and who has a very positive reputation among constitutionalist noninterventionist conservatives nationwide. I'd say it's not going too far out on a limb to say that when he entered the race, even this late in the game, he became the odds on favorite to win the GOP nomination and the best hope the party has of beating Bayh.