Sodrel hopes for Obama 'rural backlash'
Posted: Monday, May 05, 2008 5:39 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Congress, 2008
From MSNBC.com's Andy MertenORLEANS, Ind. -- Amidst the candidate rallies, surrogate speeches, and national media invasion here, down-ballot Hoosier candidates are also preparing for Tuesday’s primary and November’s general election. Former Rep. Mike
Sodrel (R) is one such congressional hopeful, looking to reclaim Indiana’s 9th district seat, which he lost to Baron
Hill in the 2006 Democratic takeover.
Despite the current lack of state press coverage of congressional races and the inherent disadvantages in fundraising and brand identification that GOP House hopefuls face this year, Sodrel does have two potential advantages in 2008: He’s running in a district that slants overwhelmingly Republican in recent presidential election years (
Bush carried the 9th with 59 percent in 2004) and his opponent has publicly endorsed Obama.
Sodrel, who is running unopposed in Tuesday’s primary, said he was “surprised” when Hill announced his backing of Obama on Wednesday, as he believes Democrats in his district will turn over heavy support for Clinton this week.
“In the primary there’s no question that people in this district are in favor of
Hillary,” he said over a bacon cheeseburger during an interview in a diner in this town of just over 2,000, after marching Orleans’ annual spring parade along with a posse of campaign volunteers.
Citing the Wright ruckus and
Obama’s “bitter” gaffe, Sodrel said Obama has created a “rural backlash,” adding that primary voters here will likely base their decisions Tuesday on the personality differences between the two presidential hopefuls, as “their policies are very close.”
“If he had done it immediately, at square one, then I think they probably would’ve accepted it,” he said of Obama’s public divorce from his former pastor on Tuesday. “But he just waited too long. I think most of them perceive now it’s just a political move.”
As for his own race, the congressional hopeful was reluctant to say he’ll use the top of the Democratic ticket as a talking point against his opponent, but also doesn’t believe that President Bush will hinder his chances. Though he anticipates some state Democrats running an anti-Bush campaign this fall, he doesn’t think voters will be swayed but such appeals. “People are bright enough to know that this president will not be serving another term.”
