We’re about to enter the season of strange nights in politics.
The first Indiana governor’s debate was just such an oddity.
Some of the strangeness sprang from the circumstances.
Not too long ago, the Democratic candidate for governor, former Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Jennifer McCormick, was a Republican. In fact, she was the Republican recruited to take out teachers’ favorite Democrat, former Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz, which McCormick did eight years ago.
Teachers, perhaps the most powerful bloc in the Indiana Democratic coalition, took quite a while to forgive McCormick for that, even after her conversion.
The Republican candidate for governor, U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, R-Indiana, was until 12 years ago a registered Democrat. Braun says he always has been a conservative Republican in his heart, but he lined up with the other party for more than a half-century for the sake of convenience.
It was as good an explanation as any, because, as the debate made clear, Braun is a man largely devoid of strong convictions, other than the vaguely articulated notion that someone like him should be in charge, because, somehow, he will get things done.
More on that in a moment.
But it wasn’t just the candidates’ propensity for switching jerseys that made the evening’s exchange an odd exercise.
Braun, it seemed, only showed up for the debate because he couldn’t schedule a root canal, a colonoscopy or something else he would have enjoyed more than answering questions and trading shots with McCormick.
Most key issues he seemed determined to duck.
It would take a mind-reader to decipher his position on abortion, healthcare or growing Indiana’s economy. When pressed on those issues, Braun retreated again and again and again to vague generalities, saying airily that all would be resolved once the state had a businessman in charge.
Braun seemed breezily unaware that his retreats into such bloviation amounted to a backhanded slap at the state’s last three governors, Eric Holcomb, Mike Pence and Mitch Daniels—like Braun (since 2012, anyway), Republican in their loyalties—all of whom prided themselves on their devout worship at the temple of business and business practice.
If Braun missed that he was indicting his brethren in the GOP, McCormick didn’t. She pounced on Braun’s obliviousness, pointing out that, after 20 years of Republican governance, whatever deficits in performance or efficiency existed had to be laid at the GOP’s door.
That was her best moment.
Her strangest was her repeated insistence that Braun and his campaign withdraw an accusation from Micah Beckwith, the Republican lieutenant gubernatorial nominee, that she possessed a “Jezebel spirit.” She even insisted on explaining why it was derogatory.
Pro tip to the Democratic candidate for governor: If you believe someone has said something defamatory about you, don’t repeat the perceived slander over and over again. While you’re at it, also refrain from defining and detailing how it reflects poorly on your character and reputation. If Beckwith or anyone else wants to insult you publicly, make him buy his own time or pay for his own ads. Don’t do his work for him.
If McCormick thought she was going to coax a disavowal out of Braun, she was mistaken. Braun’s doing his best to pretend that Micah Beckwith doesn’t exist, much less that the two running mates are in any way attached to each other.
Beckwith wasn’t Braun’s choice for the second spot on the ticket.
Beckwith invited himself to the party, as he has treated Braun as either an inconvenience or a non-entity, depending upon the circumstance.
This creates a problem for Braun’s message that he alone possesses the acumen to get things done for the state.
If he couldn’t even persuade the members of his own political party to grant him control over his own gubernatorial campaign and ticket, what chance does he have of convincing others to follow his lead on matters where his authority is less clear or compelling?
It was a question Braun struggled to answer.
Maybe because there is no good answer to that question.
There is another candidate in the governor’s race, Libertarian Donald Rainwater, who captured 11% of the vote in 2020.
Unlike Braun, Rainwater is a man of firm convictions, but little nuance. His recommendation for dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic amounted to little more than pretending it didn’t exist.
As I said, the strange season has begun.
John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students. The views expressed are those of the author only and should not be attributed to Franklin College. Send comments to [email protected].
