Blackwell Brings in the Little Guns

Poor Ken Blackwell. Not only is his highest-profile national endorser in the state stumping for someone else, he has to resort to bringing in Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, who probably came just to avoid his own constituents. Daniels appeared with Blackwell and Gov. Bob Taft at “a private Republican Governors Association fund-raiser.”

Blackwell patterns his plan to lease the Turnpike after Daniel’s similar scheme in Indiana. So how is that working out? Let’s ask Indiana.

According to polls, 60% of Indiana residents think the state got a bad deal. 73% of residents in Northern Indiana where the turnpike is think it was a bad deal. 53% think the state is on the wrong track, up from 48% the year before. And Daniels himself has an approval rating of only 37%.

The good news – since Bob Taft was at the event, Daniels wasn’t the least popular Governor in the room.

I have to wonder about J. Ken’s standing in the national party. Once the darling of national conservatives, he now has to resort to bringing in an unpopular adjacent-state governor to stump for him.