CANAAN, IN —  Three U.S. senators running for president – and three Hoosier gubernatorial candidates – have an opportunity this year to move meaningful issues to the forefront of the public agenda. But the clock is ticking. Candidates for president, the U.S. Senate, and governor, spend years on the road, millions of dollars and precious family time to win one of only three posts available in each state. It takes extraordinary determination – obsession really – to get there. So, what makes them tick, the Senate and Guv wannabes? They are extremely competitive individuals, often of self-made wealth, exceptional intellect or desire for power. Usually there are at least one or two pet issues they hope to advance. Most want to make a difference in people’s lives. What most freshman senators discover upon being sworn in (alongside beaming families in the historic Old Senate Chamber where Abraham Lincoln once worked the aisle) is that the job includes extensive time in airports, late nights waiting to cast mindless cloture votes, tedious meetings with lobbyists, and endless fund-raisers.

 

This year, however, there are three senators who can make all that tedium worthwhile.  While only one will become president, all can leave a policy legacy if they act soon.

 

How? Pretty simple, really. Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama now have on-demand access to loud megaphones and bright spotlights. They have the stage and we are listening and watching in huge numbers. The same is true in the Indiana governor’s race. It is the kind of power that many people in public life never realize. If promoted effectively, a few compelling paragraphs in an otherwise boilerplate speech can give a deserving issue its day in the spotlight. It can move legislation, it can free imprisoned ideas and people, it can inspire decisions by incumbent administrations, it can raise a ton of dough for a struggling cause.

 

So today we nominate as examples two such causes. Both are bipartisan trick shots that, at minimum, can bring the satisfaction of having leveraged one’s own time in the sun to quickly move a “smaller” orphan issue. Issues that are potential unifiers, not dividers, but which lack profile and momentum. Issues nearly extinct in this age of zero-sum wedge politics and PAC funding based on so-called ideological purity.

 

1.       Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict [www.civicworldwide.org]

There should be a bipartisan stampede to embrace this small but potent organization and its mission. The Pentagon is currently working with CIVIC leaders to improve the consistency and effectiveness of U.S. efforts to manage a claims and condolence payment program for civilians who are unintentionally harmed or killed. CIVIC also is now training soldiers at Ft. Irwin and Ft. Belvoir on best practices for helping civilians. Short of putting our own troops in the field at increased risk, the first order for CIVIC is to help prevent as many accidental civilian casualties as possible. But when innocents are harmed or killed, in many cultures condolence payments and apologies are the tradition.  Helping our brave soldiers approach this delicate, often grave, task empathetically and consistently is both the right thing to do and strategically wise.  Jihadists and nihilists willing to use civilian homes as shields place an enormous burden on our war fighters. In fact, just defining who is and isn’t a civilian is more difficult than ever. Nonetheless, there are many instances in which it is evident that genuine innocents were harmed, or killed, in the crossfire between warring parties. CIVIC’s mission includes “urging warring parties to take responsibility and provide appropriate assistance to civilians they’ve harmed” and “pressing the adoption of a new international norm that dictates recognition and making amends to civilians harmed in conflict.” Founded in 2003 by an idealistic but effective young activist from small town California named Marla Ruzicka – who was beloved by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, and tragically killed at age 28 in a 2005 suicide bombing outside Baghdad – CIVIC is now run from Washington by the bright and politically dexterous Sarah Holewinski (email: info@civicworldwide.org). “The fact is, wars will be won not just with military might but with the support of the local population,” Holewinski explains. In the current Bush-bashing environment, getting on board is a lay-up for Democrats. The question is whether some Republicans can see past CIVIC’s inherent liberal support and embrace its mission as the right – and wise – thing to do. Surely Sen. McCain, a former prisoner of war, can speak with unusual authority and empathy for both victims and soldiers.

 

2.     Missing Persons [ Gina for Missing Persons Foundation: www.411Gina.org / Molly Dattilo case: www.myspace.com/mollydattilo / Indiana Missing: www.inhopeindianamissing.com ]

In Madison and Indianapolis, the disturbing and unsolved case of 25-year-old Molly Dattilo inspires broad support, if limited publicity. The petite Dattilo, a star student, distance runner and amateur singer,  was last seen July 6, 2004, on Indianapolis’ west side.  As with most cases of missing adults, the key ingredients of public attention and sufficient funding are sadly scarce. Cable TV and tabloid papers have a voracious appetite for compelling tales of missing children; less so with adults. This issue is universal: people from all walks of life and officials at all levels of government can contribute to solving cases and helping grieving families. This one’s tailor-made for mayoral and gubernatorial leadership. Madison native and Indianapolis resident Keri Dattilo, Molly’s cousin and the architect of Indiana’s progressive 2007 “Molly Dattilo’s Law” for missing persons, puts it this way: “It could happen to anyone. There’s no common ground among the missing except the fact they are missing. The truth is that most of the missing have a story that needs to be told and unfortunately it doesn’t happen often. Every family should have the right to close the casket, say goodbye, and find peace. It’s a living nightmare for families who never have the answers to the whereabouts of their loved ones. It’s a constant ache that never eases. It doesn’t matter if they are adults or children. They are someone’s mother, daughter, father, son, brother, sister. The unknown is worse than closing a casket.”

 

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Annual state of the union and state of the state addresses are often criticized for being larded up with too many “small” issues. It is true that the presidency itself should be reserved for large matters; so too for serving as chief executive of a state.  But the true heft of a given issue is in the eye of the beholder. Try telling the sizable Sicilian-American Dattilo clan that missing persons is not large enough to make the cut; for them and many others across the country, it is about the only issue that truly matters.

 

Candidates for high office have a unique opportunity while they have the microphone to move orphan issues quickly with minimal effort. This year let’s hope three senators and three Hoosier gubernatorial candidates identify some unifiers and seize the chance to make a positive difference in the lives of many.