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By BRIAN A. HOWEY
INDIANAPOLIS - Virginia Dill McCarty was the first Hoosier woman to run for governor three decades ago. State Sen. Vi Simpson was a candidate in 2003. Soon thereafter, Kathy Davis was appointed to be the first lieutenant govenor later that year. In 2004, Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman was the first to be elected. In 2006, State Sen. .jpg){kind=small}
Sue Landske became assistant Senate President Pro Tempore, Sen. Connie Lawson became majority floor leader and Sen. Teresa Lubbers became assistant majority floor leader.
On Tuesday, the Hoosier glass ceiling shattered with Hillary Clinton’s Democratic presidential primary win and Jill Long Thompson becoming the first female gubernatorial nominee. It came five years after former IUPUI pollster Brian Vargus questioned whether Hoosiers were ready for a female governor. There has been a steady progression of power coming to the hands of female politicians. Some of it came as Govs. Joe Kernan and Mitch Daniels sought to balance their administrations and tickets with gender..jpg)
The United Steelworkers made up this poster featuring the likeness of Jill Long Thompson,Indiana's first female gubernatorial nominee. (HPI Photo by A. Walker Shaw)
After the defeat of Senate President Pro Tempore Robert D. Garton in May 2006, a block of six female Republican senators — Lawson, Lubbers, Landske, Beverly Gard, Vaneta Becker and Patricia Miller — cut a deal, throwing their support behind David Long of Fort Wayne. Thus, the new Senate power structure took on a decidedly female touch.
Thompson brings this gender power drive into a new realm with her nomination Tuesday night, becoming the first non-white male gubernatorial nominee in Indiana’s 192 year history who is not a white male. What does it mean to her personally and for Hoosiers?
Thompson told HPI, "Any time a door is opened for one, it is for many. To deny rights to a few is to deny rights to all. The more we recognize individuals, the less we categorize people into groups, the more we are allowing the God-given talents of each person to be contributed to better society. I feel very good but very blest with this particular accomplishment and this opportunity."
Thompson lives on a farm near Argos. She turned down the chance to become Frank O’Bannon’s running mate in 1996, explaining that she had just been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as undersecretary for the U.S. Agriculture Department. She was asked about the Vargus quote from five years before. Were Hoosiers ready for a female governor then? Before then? Now? "Hoosiers are ready for the best and strongest leadership an individual can provide," she said.
Here’s the rest of our phone interview that occurred Wednesday afternoon shortly before her opponent, Jim Schellinger, conceded in a phone call to her.
HPI: It seemed like you had a pretty decent lead and it looks as if you withstood a vigorous challenge from your opponent.
Thompson: What happened yesterday? I won.
HPI: Any details?
Thompson: Among the voters who were paying attention to the gubernatorial race I have somewhere between a 10 and 15 point lead. But among those voters who came out to vote in the presidential but were not paying attention to the gubernatorial, the dropoff from presidential to gubernatorial was about 10 percent, but most of the polls showed that they voted for the first name on the ballot. They sort or randomly picked.
HPI: Do you know what kind of Republican and independent crossover?
Thompson: I do not have an analysis at this point, though I suspect there will be one. I don’t intend to put any resources into that.
HPI: What issues delivered this election for you?
Thompson: I think my proven ability on job creation, having served as undersecretary for rural development at USDA.
HPI: What are we likely to see in the next six weeks before the Indiana Democratic Convention?
Thompson: Continue to travel the state and continue to working on finding the strongest lieutenant governor candidate I can find.
HPI: What will the LG criteria be?
Thompson: Major criterion is leadership on economic development.
HPI: Does geography matter?
Thompson: Geography is a factor for consideration but ultimately it’s important to find the best qualified person to do the job, And someone who will be committed to campaigning very hard every day. Not just to win, but to work very hard for eight years to rebuild Indiana’s economy?
HPI: How do you unify the party, particularly with the state party favoring Jim Schellinger?
Thompson: We are very unified. The chairman called me and we’ve been playing phone tag but he left me a lovely message on my voice mail congratulating me.
HPI: Has your opponent conceded yet?
Thompson: I have not heard from him but I suspect he and I will talk in the very near future.
HPI: What can we expect in a race with Gov. Daniels?
Thompson: It will be very issues oriented and I will continue to travel and listen to voters and talk to voters and express my vision for the future of Indiana.
HPI: Can you talk about your Lake County support which put you over the top, at least sequentially?
Thompson: The Steelworkers were instrumental in winning this race. I carried Warrick County, which is a county where Steelworkers are strong. Allen County, Lake County, Porter County, LaPorte County. I think the Steelworkers were critical, but I think Sheriff Roy Dominguez’s endorsement as well as Sen. Earline Rogers, Sen. Karen Talian, Rep. Linda Lawson, Rep. Charlie Brown helped.
HPI: Where is Gov. Daniels most vulunerable?
Thompson: The selling of the state assets; the privatizing. The economy. We lost 16,200 jobs in March. The unemployment trust fund was $1 billion when he came in and now it’s down to $100 million. I also think our high school dropout rate, our education policy, and our health care policy are below national average.
Tags: Connie Lawson, Hillary Clinton, Jill Long Thompson. Jim Schellinger, Patrician Miller, Teresa Lubbers, Vi Simpson. Vaneta Becker, Virginia Dill McCarty
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This entry was written by and posted on May 8, 2008 at 12:43 pm and filed under HPI Weekly. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
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