R.I.P. Bill Cochran, arguably Floyd County's last dynastic Democrat.

In January of 2009, when Bill Cochran left the Indiana House, I was 48 years old. He had been my state representative since I was a sophomore in high school. Ed Clere, his successor by the narrowest of margins, was just eight months old when Cochran took office in 1975.

For local Democrats, Cochran has proven to be irreplaceable. Since 2010, they're run five different candidates against Clere, sans discernible traction. Up, down or sideways, 34 years is nothing to sneeze at, and we'll probably not see the likes of him again, maybe from either party.

Click through for the whole story.

Bill Cochran, former state representative, dies, by Chris Morris (New Albany Coverage as a Last Resort)

Represented District 72 for 34 years

NEW ALBANY — William C. Cochran, a New Albany native who served 34 years as a state representative, died early Thursday morning after a sudden illness, according to Floyd County Democratic Party Chairman Adam Dickey. He was 84.

Cochran was active in local politics most of his life. He was a 1952 graduate of New Albany High School and is a member of the school's hall of fame.

Cochran served District 72 during his three-plus decades in the state Legislature, and helped secure funding for the development of the Indiana University Southeast campus. He received a Distinguished Service Medal from IUS.

Pretty in Pink Slips: "The Indiana Democratic Party is badly broken, and party leaders must let go of what worked in the not too distant past."

A writer after my own heart, aiming straight for the jugular.

Swarens: Joe Donnelly's loss proves Indiana Democratic Party is broken, by Tim Swarens (Indianapolis Star)

No amount of gloss will turn a pigsty into a mansion, and no level of political spin can obscure the fact that Tuesday's elections were an utter disaster for Democrats in Indiana.

Let's survey the wreckage. With Joe Donnelly's impending exit from the U.S. Senate, Democrats will give up their only statewide office. Republicans will fill nine of 11 spots in Indiana's congressional delegation, including both Senate seats. The GOP on Tuesday retained super majorities in the Indiana House and Senate. Democrats last won the governor's office in 2000, and incumbent Gov. Eric Holcomb is a heavy favorite to win re-election in two years.

snip

How do Democrats in Indiana regroup? Is rebuilding even possible?

Let's answer the second question first: Yes, it can be done. And, as I'll argue a bit later, it's important for all Hoosiers that they eventually succeed.

But success will require acknowledging that the Indiana Democratic Party is badly broken, and party leaders must let go of what worked in the not too distant past.

Ding ding ding.

Younger, diverse voters told me repeatedly in this election cycle that they were turned off and even insulted by Donnelly's attempt to run away from his own party. They derided him as a Democrat In Name Only and a Republican Lite.

Their message to Democratic leaders in Indiana is to own who they are and to not apologize for belonging to the same party as Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren, just as many Republican candidates don't turn their backs on Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.

... Democrats here should look to Kansas, which until Tuesday was just as red as Indiana and where Democratic state Sen. Laura Kelly is now the governor-elect.

You may or may not agree with Swarens' rationale as to a solution, but it's hard to contest his critique of the fundamental problem.

Mike Pence minced in The New Yorker: "(Ed) Clere remains bitter about Pence."

Together occasionally, if not forever (photo credit).

Yesterday there was just enough time for us to fire off a link and tease readers a little bit.

In the NAC posting "Be careful what you wish for: 'The President Pence Delusion,' including a pivotal cameo by a New Albanian we all know," a long and very worthwhile read in The New Yorker was linked.

The President Pence Delusion, by Jane Mayer (The New Yorker)

Trump’s critics yearn for his exit. But Mike Pence, the corporate right’s inside man, poses his own dangers.

 ... (Vice President Mike) Pence likes to say of himself, “I am a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order.” But Clere is not alone in questioning Pence’s political purity.

Yes, the questioner in question is none other than State Representative Ed Clere, the New Albanian we know so well, whose cameo is a critical component of an essay no doubt being consumed nationally even as I write.

Here is the passage.

---

In 2015, Ed Clere, a Republican state legislator who chaired the House Committee on Public Health, became aware of a spike in the number of H.I.V. cases in southern Indiana. The problem appeared to be caused by the sharing of needles among opioid abusers in Scott County, which sits across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky. In a place like Scott County, Clere said, “typically you’d have no cases, or maybe one a year.” Now they were getting up to twenty a week. The area was poor, and woefully unprepared for a health crisis. (Pence’s campaign against Planned Parenthood had contributed to the closure of five clinics in the region; none had performed abortions, but all had offered H.I.V. testing.) That same year, the state health commissioner called Indiana’s H.I.V. outbreak a public-health emergency.

Clere came of age during the AIDS crisis, and had read Randy Shilts’s best-selling account, “And the Band Played On.” He tried to get the legislature to study the possibility of legalizing a syringe exchange, which he felt “was a matter of life and death,” and could “save lives quickly and inexpensively.”

But conservatives blocked the idea, and Pence threatened to veto any such legislation. “With Pence, you need to look at the framework, which is abstinence,” Clere said. “It’s the same as with giving teen-agers condoms. Conservatives think it promotes the behavior, even though it’s a scientifically proven harm-reduction strategy.” In March, 2015, Clere staged a huge public hearing, in which dozens of experts and sufferers testified about the crisis. Caught flat-footed, Pence scheduled his own event, where he announced that he would pray about the syringe-exchange issue. The next day, he said that he supported allowing an exchange program as an emergency measure, but only on a temporary basis and only in Scott County, with no state funding. Clere told me that he spent “every last dime of my political capital” to get the bill through. After Scott County implemented the syringe exchange, the number of new H.I.V. cases fell. But Republican leaders later stripped Clere of his committee chairmanship, a highly unusual event. “I commend Representative Clere for the efforts to help the state deal with this,” Kevin Burke, the health officer in neighboring Clark County, told me. “But he paid a price for it.”

Clere remains bitter about Pence. “It was all part of his pattern of political expediency,” he said. “He was stridently against it until it became politically expedient to support it.” Clere, a Christian who opposes abortion, told me that he now finds Pence’s piety hypocritical. “He says he’s ‘pro-life,’ ” Clere said. “But people were dying.” When Clere was asked whom he would rather have as President—Trump or Pence—he replied, “I’d take Trump every day of the week, and twice on Sunday.”

9th district primary opponents Dan Canon and Liz Watson raised lots of money in the 3rd quarter. We know Canon, so let's have a look at Watson.

According to Ballotpedia, five Democrats have declared for the primary in May, 2018. The winner will contest incumbent Trey Hollingsworth's 9th district congressional seat.

Dan Canon

Rob Chatlos

Jason Leineweber

Tom Pappas

Liz Watson

Note that Ballotpedia lists Chatlos twice, as a Democrat and as an Independent.

Yesterday Dan Canon's team took to social media to reveal his 3rd quarter fundraising proceeds.

Congressional Candidate Dan Canon has record-setting quarter

New Albany, Indiana— Dan Canon, Congressional candidate in Indiana’s 9th district, today reported raising over $208k, the most ever by a Democratic Challenger in the 9th District in the 3rd quarter of a non-election year.

Canon’s fundraising came overwhelmingly from small-dollar donors, with over 1600 individual donations including donations from all thirteen counties in the district. These amounted to a median donation of $27. 86% of donations were $100 or less. In addition, the campaign is building an unprecedented field operation to engage constituents across the district.

So did Watson, who barely trailed Canon on the tote board.

Liz Watson, Candidate in IN-09, Raises More Than $200,000 in Third Quarter

Watson out-raised Republican incumbent Trey Hollingsworth

Liz Watson, candidate for Congress in IN-09, raised more than $200,000 by the September 30th fundraising deadline. In doing so, Watson has out-raised Republican incumbent Trey Hollingsworth and nearly every candidate running for Congress in Indiana.

USA Today had a look at these early fundraising returns.

The most noteworthy numbers for third quarter fundraising were put up in southcentral Indiana where both New Albany attorney Dan Canon and Bloomington attorney Liz Watson each raised more than $200,000. That’s not only more than the $127,400 raised in the past three months by freshman Rep. Trey Hollingsworth, R-New Albany. But it’s also more than the recent amounts raised by any other House candidate in the state except Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Jimtown.

It occurs to me that while Canon is well known in New Albany and metro Louisville, readers might not be familiar with Watson, who rode the Democratic Party's Harvest Homecoming parade float with Canon.

I'm not sure if any of the other candidates did, although it's possible. Later Watson posted this at Fb:

I posted a comment asking the candidate about Tenille's housing status and costs, given the state of affordable housing in New Albany amid Jeff Gahan's putsch and subsequent hostile takeover of public housing. She replied via Messenger that she'd like to learn more about these topics.

Accordingly, I was happy to provide the candidate with a list of NA Confidential links on the putsch, and I hope to speak with her about it very soon.

In the meantime, via Watson's web site, here's her pitch.

Meet Liz Watson

Liz Watson is running for Congress because she wants to bring good jobs, affordable health care, and high-quality public education to Indiana’s working families. Liz has fought for Hoosiers in the nation’s capitol, and she has seen the dysfunction in Washington up close. Liz believes it’s unacceptable that working people are being left behind by politicians who would rather stand up for special interests than for Hoosiers.

Liz has led and won important fights throughout her legal career to help hardworking people get high-quality, good-paying jobs. As a working mom, Liz understands that today's families need affordable health care, high-quality child care, predictable schedules, paid sick days and family leave, and fair pay. She has written policies to raise the minimum wage, protect working people from being cheated out of their pay, and to create pathways to the middle class.

Liz learned the values of hard work and fair play the old-fashioned way. She worked the cash register at Fazoli’s, waitressed at Steak ‘n’ Shake, and sold clothing at L.S. Ayres. Through these experiences, she learned the value of a dollar while saving for college.

Liz’s roots in Indiana date back to the Civil War, when her great-great grandfather fought for the Union from Huntington, Indiana. She comes from generations of hardworking Hoosiers: a postal inspector, carpenter, refrigerator and electrical repairman, teachers, and the owner of the Feed and Grain Store in Shoals.

It’s wrong that today Indiana families who work hard and play by the rules struggle to keep their heads above water. Liz believes we should invest in workforce training and in the future of our young people, especially in proven models like apprenticeship, make community college and universities more affordable, and support our small business job-creators.

Liz gets results. When she learned that pregnant women working in retail jobs were being told they couldn’t make simple changes at work like carrying a water bottle or being able to sit down during a long shift, despite doctors’ orders, she filed a complaint and got the policy changed. Fighting for working people and the right to organize has been the hallmark of Liz’s career and continues to motivate her to serve her community.

For too long, Congress has done everything to help special interest billionaires and little to help Main Street. Liz will work to get hardworking Hoosiers a long overdue raise, fight against trade deals that threaten Hoosier manufacturing, support small businesses, help people juggle work and family life, and protect public education and affordable health insurance–including for those fighting the grips of opioid addiction.

Liz and her husband Craig are both teaching at Indiana University. Their two young children are attending the same elementary school that Liz attended as a child, and they love spending time with Liz’s parents who live a few miles away.

Liz brings the experience and drive that we need to win for Hoosiers in Congress, and she will never stop fighting for Indiana’s families.

Be careful what you wish for: "The President Pence Delusion," including a pivotal cameo by a New Albanian we all know.

Absolutely vital reading in The New Yorker. It is impossible to summarize several thousand words with just one paragraph. I've chosen to highlight the essay's conclusion.

But you're curious aren't you?

Well, if you want to know which New Albanian was interviewed for the article, you'll just have to go look for yourself.

The President Pence Delusion, by Jane Mayer (The New Yorker)

Trump’s critics yearn for his exit. But Mike Pence, the corporate right’s inside man, poses his own dangers.

... Many Americans have debated whether the country would be better off with Pence as President. From a purely partisan viewpoint, Harold Ickes, a longtime Democratic operative, argues that—putting aside the fear that Trump might start a nuclear war—“Democrats should hope Trump stays in office,” because he makes a better foil, and because Pence might work more effectively with Congress and be more successful at advancing the far right’s agenda. Newt Gingrich predicts that Pence will probably get a chance to do so. “I think he’s the most likely Republican nominee in 2024,” he said. Ron Klain, who was chief of staff to the former Vice-President Joe Biden, is skeptical of this, given Trump’s accumulating baggage. “There is no success for Mike Pence unless Trump works—he cannot run far enough or fast enough to not get hit by the falling tree,” Klain said. “But he may think he can.” Evidently, the next chapter is on Pence’s mind. Over the fireplace in the Vice-President’s residence, he has hung a plaque with a passage from the Bible: “ ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the lord, ‘Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ ”