Donnelly for Senate: Decision Looming, “Shared Hoosier Values” Message Forming

As many blogs have written this past week and we wrote back in February, it looks as though Congressman Joe Donnelly is going to be running for U.S. Senate.  The IndyStar had a more detailed article saying Donnelly plans to make a decision in the next few weeks.

What we found most interesting is the message themes Donnelly seems to be focused on.  He called it  ”shared Hoosier values” and it centers on jobs, education and energy independence.  Jobs and education are no brainers and with the rising gas prices, energy independence could prove to be the right message at the right time.  It also gives him a chance to look tough on national defense.  That could be very important depending on who his opposition will be.   

The general thought has been that Donnelly will try to run as a pro-gun, pro-life Democrat who stood up to Nancy Pelosi.  He will likely be able to make the pro-gun stance stick.  He will, however,  have a huge issue on claiming to be pro-life.  Donnelly voted for the health care reform bill a.k.a. Obamacare and the pro-life groups view that bill as a litmus test.  We’ve seen this show before starring fellow named Brad Ellsworth–it didn’t exactly get rave reviews.  But based on the messages Donnelly is testing, it seems as though his team knows they’ll have to run on a lot more than just the typical Hoosier Democrat platform.

The article also noted, “Donnelly said any campaign wouldn’t be affected by the outcome of the GOP primary.”  While the campaign may not be affected by the outcome of the primary, you can bet the campaign was launched because of it.