Cross-posted from BlueIndiana.net

In 2006, 10% of all Democratic gains in the House of Representatives came from Indiana.  That's three seats out of the 31 that switched from Republican to Democrat.  All three seats are districts which Republican President George Bush carried in both 2000 and 2004.  While all three represent the conservative side of the Democratic spectrum, their voting patterns are a good match for the voters in their districts.

Also in 2006, Democrats on the state level took back the lower house of the Indiana state legislature, added seats in the upper chamber, and took over a number of county seats.  In 2007, Democrats were able to pick up mayors offices in cities around the state, with the notable exception being my home city of Indianapolis.

To top that off, a recent Indianapolis Star poll by respected pollster Ann Selzer shows Republican Mitch Daniels trailing his two relatively-unknown Democratic challengers, with a large majority of Hoosier voters saying Indiana is on the wrong track and giving the governor a 40% approval rating.  The same poll showed that adding Evan Bayh to the Democratic ticket would likely turn Indiana blue on the presidential level.

2008 presents a great opportunity for us to expand and protect the Democratic momentum in Indiana.  2010 is the next national census, which means redistricting will occur in 2011.  Whichever party controls 2/3 of the trifecta (lower chamber, upper chamber, governorship) controls the redistricting process.  In 2000, Democrats controlled the governorship and the lower chamber of the legislature, giving them the opportunity to gerrymander the lines following the loss of a congressional district.

If the Republicans are in control of the redistricting process, Democrats can lose as many as four Indiana congressional seats in the 2012 elections.  That prospect makes defeating Mitch Daniels all the more important.  Many who don't believe in Howard Dean's 50-state strategy would urge us to write off Indiana as a Republican wasteland.  But those of us who do believe in Dean's strategy see the fertile Democratic fields in this formerly Republican farm state.