Published: May 17, 2008 02:03 am            

HOWEY: A Hoosier woman of steel

INDIANAPOLIS – Virginia Dill McCarty was the first Hoosier woman to run for governor three decades ago. State Sen. Vi Simpson was a candidate in 2003. Soon thereafter, Kathy Davis was appointed to be the first lieutenant governor later that year. In 2004, Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman was the first to be elected. In 2006, State Sen. Sue Landske became assistant Senate President Pro Tempore, Sen. Connie Lawson became majority floor leader and Sen. Teresa Lubbers became assistant majority floor leader.

On May 6, the Hoosier glass ceiling emphatically shattered with Hillary Clinton’s Democratic presidential primary win and Jill Long Thompson becoming the first female gubernatorial nominee. It came five years after former IUPUI pollster Brian Vargus questioned whether Hoosiers were ready for a female governor.

There has been a steady progression of power coming to the hands of female politicians. Some of it came as Govs. Joe Kernan and Mitch Daniels sought to balance their administrations and tickets with gender.

After the defeat of Senate President Pro Tempore Robert D. Garton in May 2006, a block of six female Republican senators — Lawson, Lubbers, Landske, Beverly Gard, Vaneta Becker and Patricia Miller — cut a deal, throwing their support behind David Long of Fort Wayne. Thus, the new Senate power structure took on a decidedly female touch.

Thompson brings this gender power drive into a new realm with her nomination, becoming the first non-white male gubernatorial nominee in Indiana’s 192 year history. What does it mean to her personally and for Hoosiers?

“Any time a door is opened for one, it is for many,” said Thompson, who was out-spent by Jim Schellinger $3.2 million to $1.3 million. “To deny rights to a few is to deny rights to all. The more we recognize individuals, the less we categorize people into groups, the more we are allowing the God-given talents of each person to be contributed to better society. I feel very good, but very blessed with this particular accomplishment and this opportunity.”

The Argos farmer and teacher turned down the chance to become Frank O’Bannon’s running mate in 1996, explaining that she had just been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. When asked about the Vargus quote from five years before, “Were Hoosiers ready for a female governor then? Were they ready before then and are they ready now?” she replied, “Hoosiers are ready for the best and strongest leadership an individual can provide,” she said.

There were surreal moments for both Thompson and Schellinger gubernatorial campaigns on Election Day. It became clear that she performed extremely well in her old congressional district area surrounding Fort Wayne, carrying some counties with 70 percent. There was also a large Republican crossover into the Democratic primary. What would that crossover mean? One campaign operative told me before the polls closed, “We’re flying blind.” Thompson’s campaign had seen internal numbers that indicated an 11th hour 8 percent lead.

By the next day, with a 7,200 vote lead out of 1.3 million cast, she declared victory in Fort Wayne and Schellinger finally conceded. In the April 23-24 Howey-Gauge Poll, it showed the one group Schellinger led with was Republicans. His campaign made more than 250,000 calls, many to women, and those two trends dramatically tightened the race.

By mid-evening on Election Night, Schellinger had pulled into a 50/50 tie with Thompson, with the race seesawing by a few thousand votes until it stopped around midnight, awaiting the final 72 percent of the Lake County returns to report. It was Lake County that ultimately gave Thompson the final narrow lead. She was endorsed by the United Steelworkers, and this was their turf. Thompson also received a key endorsement from Lake County Sheriff Roy Dominguez, who introduced her at the Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner. There was also the under-the-radar animosity between U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky and the Indiana Democratic Party, which was clandestinely backing Schellinger. Lake County became payback time and Thompson benefited, in part for the aforementioned elements and partly from the huge Barack Obama turnout.

“The polls were all over the place,” said Bett Voorhies, Indiana political coordinator for the United Steelworkers. “There was quite a bit of movement in the final weeks.” Asked how Thompson staved off the Schellinger charge, Voorhies said, “The Steelworkers. The bulk of our membership is from the Gary-East Chicago area. Our field program paid off.”

Voorhies said that Sheriff Dominguez played a significant role. “He has been a huge supporter of ours. I’m sure it swayed a lot of people. But we won this thing on the ground. At every Obama event, at every Hillary event, at every Bill event, we had Steelworker volunteers handing out literature. We were meeting 3,000 to 4,000 Democrats at a time. We had no paid media other than a little cable.”

With signs of a huge Democratic wave taking shape nationally, can Thompson defeat Gov. Mitch Daniels, who starts the general election campaign with roughly an $8 million lead? Thompson said, “I expect this to be a very tough fight and I expect to win. What’s most pleasing is he has been running ads for a long time and people aren’t buying it. Voters want more than a flannel shirt and a connoisseur of tenderloin.”

Howey is publisher of Howey Politics Indiana at www.howeypolitics.com

        

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