Sarah Palin and Mike SodrelU.S. Rep. Mike Pence came to Southern Indiana on Saturday to endorse fellow Indiana Republican and former House colleague Mike Sodrel in the 9th District GOP primary.
Pence, R-Columbus, appeared at a noon news conference with Sodrel at the Clark County Republican headquarters in Jeffersonville and then at a luncheon at The Grand in New Albany.
“We need someone who can hit the ground running in the battle to preserve our constitutional 
If Sodrel wins the GOP nomination in the May 4 primary, he would face incumbent Democratic Rep. Baron Hill for the fifth time in a row in the general election. Sodrel, who lives in New Albany, won in 2004.
Sodrel is one of four candidates in the primary. The others are Todd Young of Bloomington, Travis Hankins of Columbus and Rick Warren of Elizabeth. Young and Hankins began their campaigns months before Sodrel’s entry in January. Warren formally entered the race earlier this month.
Ed Feigenbaum, publisher of Indiana Legislative Insight, a newsletter of politics and government, said it is historically unusual for elected officials to take positions on candidates in their parties’ primaries. But Pence has taken positions this year in contested primaries in several states, including Kansas, South Carolina and Florida, Feigenbaum said.
He said Pence’s involvement on behalf of Sodrel could range from personal friendship in 2005 and 2006 when both were in Congress to thinking that Sodrel has the best chance against Hill in the November election.
But Feigenbaum also said Pence’s support could backfire because of anti-establishment feeling among some conservative voters. Pence ranks third in the House Republican leadership.
“On balance, if I was Mike Sodrel, I would much rather have Mike Pence speaking out for me this early,” Feigenbaum said.
Sodrel said he appreciates Pence’s support.
“We worked together for two years,” Sodrel said. “He knows how I think and how I vote. He’s a good man.”
Reporter Ben Hershberg can be reached at (812) 949-4032.
Senator Dan Coats [Robert Costa]
Former congressman Chris Chocola (R., Ind.), president of the Club for Growth, tells National Review Online that former senator Dan Coats (R., Ind.) is a “very appealing candidate” and that he “would like to sell Coats’s candidacy to our members in coming days.”
Coats represented Indiana in the Senate for a decade and retired in 1999 instead of running for reelection against then–Indiana governor, and now incumbent senator, Evan Bayh (D., Ind.). Coats announced his possible candidacy earlier today. He joins a field of four other Republicans in the Senate primary: former congressman John Hostettler, state senator Marlin Stutzman, financial adviser Don Bates Jr., and tea-party activist Richard Behney.
“As an Indiana guy, I know that Dan is doing this for all of the right reasons,” Chocola says. “He’s done his time and served well, but he sees what is happening in Washington and knows that he can’t stay on the sidelines. My sense is that he would have been satisfied with a candidate like Mike Pence, but after Pence decided not to run, felt a sense of duty to jump into the race. His candidacy moves us back in the right direction. He has strong name identification — not as strong as it was ten years ago, but still meaningful — and the ability to raise money.”
“The Club is going to take a hard look at this race, and hopefully we’ll find a way to help Dan get back to the Senate,” Chocola says. “Of course, we’ll make sure we comb over his voting record and do our homework before an endorsement of any sort.”
Is Bayh beatable? “Evan Bayh is a good politician, but he hasn’t stood on consistent principles,” Chocola says. “When he ran for president, he tacked left. After Massachusetts, he has tacked right. It’s all about political expediency. For a long time in Indiana, no one could tell that story. Dan Coats is someone who I think can, as well as anyone.”
“People thought Bayh’s father was unbeatable in 1980, and then Dan Quayle beat him,” he adds. “There was a unique environment in 1980, and I think 2010 echoes it in many ways. There is an anti-incumbent mood building in Indiana, and people are tired of Bayh being a political chameleon. Bayh has had a war chest of cash and the press calling him a moderate for years, and no one ever challenged him. I’d like to help Dan Coats tell that story.”
Chris Dickson and Senator Dan CoatsCongressman pledges support for possible Coats' campaign for U.S. Senate
Contact: Bill Smith, 765-635-9885
ANDERSON, Ind., Feb. 3 /Standard Newswire/ -- Congressman Mike Pence released the following statement in response to the news that former U.S. Senator Dan Coats is considering a 2010 campaign to return to the Senate:
Former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats plans to announce Wednesday that he will challenge Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh in November, a senior Republican official told POLITICO.
Coats held the seat Bayh currently occupies for 10 years before retiring in 1998. Since leaving Congress, he has worked as a lobbyist and served as U.S. ambassador to Germany during the George W. Bush administration.
"Coats deciding to run is a product of the environment we're in right now," the GOP official said. "This is a great opportunity for us. We have a real player on the field that they weren't expecting us to have."
Former Rep. John Hostettler and state Sen. Marlin Stutzman are already in the race on the Republican side.
