Less than a year to go before the first votes are cast in the Indiana governor's race, and the two leading candidates agree on this much: It's time to fix education and the economy.
What that means for college students at Ball State and other schools, losing millions in state support and facing increased performance demands, isn't clear. And for now, the candidates – one a conservative member of Congress and the other a southern Indiana lawyer, are talking in more general terms.
On a baking-hot July Fourth holiday weekend, Republican Rep. Mike Pence and John Gregg, a former speaker of the state House, worked hard to attract attention and votes at Independence Day parades and picnics across the state. The first test with the voters will be in next May's primaries. For now, it's a test of endurance at meet-and-greet events seemingly everywhere.
Gregg, stocky with a handlebar mustache and the affable ease of a country lawyer, was in his element during the parade through Madison, a historic Ohio River town northeast of Louisville.
This was the weekend of the Madison Regatta — a race of thundering hydroplane boats on the
Ohio River celebrated in a 2001 movie starring James Caviezel, and one of the state's largest summer festivals.
Among the crowd lining Jefferson Street was Sherri McCutcheon, sitting with her husband and 8-year-old niece. McCutcheon knows Gregg from his days as a Saturday morning talk-show host on WIBC radio in Indianapolis, but wasn't expecting him here.
Seeing Gregg, she jumped up quickly from her lawn chair on the curb, waved and called him over.
"John Gregg!" she yelled. "We've been waiting for you to run!"
Gregg grinned and walked toward her to shake McCutcheon's hand. He bent down to say hello to her niece, Raelynn Grayson, before moving on.
It was one of those brief, smiling moments in politics that happen thousands of times in every campaign. There is no guarantee of success, but a victory can't happen without the personal, retail connections made in every handshake and hello.
McCutcheon waved goodbye as Gregg ambled away toward the next clutch of supporters.
"He's the best," she said. "I think he can do a lot. I think he can do jobs, and I think he can benefit the real people — help the regular Hoosiers."
Indiana voters next year will have to make their minds up in a presidential race, congressional races and the state legislature. But the governor's office, held the past two terms by Republican Mitch Daniels, is the top statewide contest on the ballot.
To some, Pence looks like the favorite. Republicans, after all, made huge gains nationally and across the state in last year's midterm elections.
And in a July Fourth parade in Linton, a community of about 5,400 people 40 miles southwest of Bloomington, Pence looked confident as he greeted parade watchers with his family and other supporters at his side.
Greene County supported Republican Dan Coats in last year's U.S. Senate race to replace the retiring Evan Bayh. The county also voted Republican in 2008 in the last presidential race.
"I think he can keep our conservative values that are important here in Indiana," said Mark Raper of Linton. "I think he can use them to keep government going in the right direction. I think he's going to keep that tradition with the Republican Party."
Pence and Gregg both face opponents in their respective primaries, in which candidates are picked for the November general election. Pence is expected to face Fishers businessman Jim Wallace. On the Democratic side, Thomas Lenfert, a Georgetown businessman, is challenging Gregg for the nomination.
Republicans might have the momentum after the Senate victory last year. But it's too early to count the Democrats out, says Ray Scheele, co-director of Ball State's Bowen Center for Public Affairs.
"Being an open seat, the governor's chair is very much in sight for the Democrats," he said.
"It's hard not to like John Gregg. He campaigns with his big smile and his big burly self, and Pence is going to have to lighten up a little bit if he's going to score some points against John Gregg. I think we're going to see some real contrast between the two."
Strengths and weaknesses
Both candidates emphasize their southern Indiana roots – Pence from Columbus and Gregg from Sandborn near Vincennes. Both, incidentally, have roots in the loud, fractious world of talk radio – and at the same station, too, WIBC in Indianapolis.
They sound alike in some ways. Gregg was speaker of the House for six years during his
eight-term career in the state legislature. He said he wants to unite Hoosiers and work with Republicans to solve the state's problems.
"I learned how to drive on a country road, and it was one lane," he said. "My dad always told me, ‘Son, don't run off the left or the right side of the road. Try to stay in the middle.' And that's good advice.
"That's good advice for governing. Most of us agree on about 85 percent of things, and that's what we need to be working on. We need to be working on nothing but jobs in Indiana."
For Gregg, the biggest obstacles are funding and name recognition. Money is the lifeblood of politics, and Pence had $434,294 on hand in his congressional campaign account at the end of March, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That money can be used to support his race for governor.
Less helpful is a fracture in the party between its mainstream elements — business-oriented Republicans, for example — and those allied with the Tea Party, which is even challenging longtime GOP Sen. Richard Lugar in next year's primary.
"We'll have to see how the Republicans sift out their candidates," Scheele said. "Mitch Daniels is over here, and Mike Pence is over here. There's a little bit of that factionalism. It's even worse at the national level."
A major divide is over how the two sides view social issues.
"The businessmen, they don't really care about abortion and prayer in school and these things," said Scheele, whose research has focused on voting behavior, political parties and Indiana politics.
"They want a sound economy, and they don't want to be distracted from that because they want to make money... That's where you put Mitch Daniels. Pence is over here on evangelical issues."
On the road
Both are trying not to promise the impossible. Indiana has outperformed its Midwest neighbors in some ways, but still faces enormous challenges replacing thousands of manufacturing jobs lost in the past few years.
"I'm not going to tell you for a moment that government can create a job," Gregg said in an interview before his parade appearance in Madison.
"It's the business of government to try to create an environment that allows Indiana's existing businesses to expand, to grow, to add employees, to increase their square footage. The governor needs to work with the legislature to do that."
Gregg's views track with those of the state's conservative "blue dog Democrats." A motorcycle rider, he supports gun rights and the pro-life movement, and sounds comfortable talking about his Christian faith.
"I had a guy come up and say, ‘I'm a Republican. I can't have a sticker, but I'll vote for you,'" he said. "That kind of makes your day."
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