Election 2008: Indiana Again Leads the Way Against GOP

A few weeks ago, the Republican Senator Lugar, of Indiana, announced on the floor of the Senate that he could no longer support Bush's policies in Iraq, and called on the President to change course. This is old news by now, but the ramifications and meaning of Senator Lugar's action could have damning consequences for the GOP in 2008. As an Indiana Democrat, allow me to postulate, for a moment, on what this action by an Indiana senator means, given the nature of the people he represents, myself among them.

Indiana has long voted Republican in presidential elections, and is casually rolled up with all the other "Red States" on the political map. However, just below the surface, the Hoosier State is shifting. I can feel and see it, because I live, play, and work here. Senator Lugar's cutting off of his support for President Bush's Iraq fallacies has had a major impact, the effects of which have not yet been fully acknowledged.

Hoosiers have supported Senator Lugar for decades; he is a long-serving senator and holds many key, powerful positions in Congress, particularly those concerned with foreign affairs. He is admired by both Republicans and Democrats in Indiana for his ability to work bipartisanly on issues, approaching them from a moderate, logical, and non-blowhard perspective. He routinely receives the votes of not only Republicans in Indiana, but also many Democrats and Independents. His shift on Iraq should be viewed as a significant barometer of things to come.

The funny thing is, this has not been the first warning sign. In the 2006 Congressional elections, Indiana led the way against the GOP, throwing out one Republican House member after another, replacing them with moderate Democrats. Mitch Daniels, the wildly unpopular GOP governor, is despised by virtually every Indiana citizen, on both sides of the political spectrum, and is widely predicted to be overthrown by an upcoming Democratic candidate. And now, one of the most influential and respected senators in Congress, from Indiana, has broken with the neo-con party line on Iraq and opposed Bush. All this, from a supposed "red state."