NAME — Jordan Denari
AGE — 17
By Jordan Denari, 15, Y-Press
After all the uproar over Sen. Joe Lieberman’s congressional primary loss, the national attention may soon shift to Indiana’s 9th Congressional District. Political experts have identified this district race -- which pits Republican incumbent Mike Sodrel against Democratic former congressman Baron Hill -- as one of the most critical in the nation this fall.
That’s because the Republicans are trying to keep their majority in Congress, and the Democrats are hoping to overtake it.
The upcoming Nov. 7 election in the 9th District, which includes liberal Bloomington, Ind. and numerous conservative farming and suburban communities, is particularly competitive.
Hill and Sodrel have faced off in a past House race. Hill, elected in 1998, served three two-year terms in the 9th District. But, in 2004, he lost the election to Republican challenger Mike Sodrel. The Republican beat the incumbent by a mere 1,400 votes. Hill said he was defeated because Sodrel rode on the coattails of President Bush’s successful re-election. President Bush won the 9th District 59 percent to 40 percent over John Kerry, showing the political leanings of the area.
Both parties in the 9th District have found it necessary to call in the big political names to boost fundraising. According to The Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research group, Sodrel had raised more than $1.7 million for his campaign, and Hill had raised nearly $1.2 million, as of June 30. Much of the money, experts agree, will be spent on media advertising. For example, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has already reserved TV ad space that would allow it to spend up to $1.3 million for Hill’s re-election campaign, according to “The Hill,” a newspaper about the U.S. Congress.
Earlier this year, Sodrel had the support and fundraising savvy of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. So it's no surprise that the first lady visited Indiana to help Sodrel’s cause as well. In June, first lady Laura Bush spoke on behalf of the Republican congressman at Huber Orchard and Winery, located in the 9th District in Starlight, Ind. More than 450 supporters attended the event, helping Sodrel raise more than $200,000.
Hoping to regain his seat, Democrat Hill hosted a fundraiser in early July, with former President Clinton as the keynote speaker. More than 500 supporters filled the ballroom at the Marriott Hotel in Downtown Indianapolis, and raised $250,000.
Reporters and editors from Y-Press attended these fundraising events. The teams were able to interview numerous big-name politicians—Lt. Governor Becky Skillman, former first lady Judy O’Bannon and the congressional candidates.
And while getting a photo taken with the first lady was no doubt exciting, Y-Press members also observed smaller details about the events that proved why this election is so interesting and important.
The not-so-secret service
By Jordan Denari, 15, Y-Press
Mr. President must be very protective of his wife.
At Congressman Mike Sodrel’s fundraising event, the Secret Service personnel seemed to be everywhere. Hiding out behind a black curtain for most of the event, the agents quickly filed into the banquet hall as Mrs. Bush entered to make her speech.
During a meet-and-greet session later in the program, the first lady was surrounded by tense men and women with stern looks on their faces. As our group of Y-Pressers approached Mrs. Bush, a man reached out and snatched my pen. Apparently, he thought I was planning to do harm to the first lady with a capped pen.
Former President Clinton is a good contrast.
Since his presidency, the charismatic Clinton has been known to give his Secret Service men and women a hard time. Loving to get out and talk to ordinary people, the former president continued this trend after his speech in Indy. Clinton closed off a side-street in the middle of Downtown to meet and shake hands with his fans. No doubt watching Clinton mingle with Indianapolis pedestrians caused a few rolled eyes among his “Men in Black.”
A interesting point
By Jordan Gaither, 15, Y-Press
When asked about the importance of youth, Mike Sodrel made an interesting point. He said, "I think Churchill said once ‘Society can make no better investment than milk for the mouths of babes.’ He really believes that children are the future to our society and therefore we need to support them.
He then told us we could have anything we wanted if we worked hard for it. His Web site bio reinforces this statement through his personal life story. After getting married after high school, he joined the National Guard and started a business that grew from two to 500 employees. Mike Sodrel later ran for office and has ever since been a successful politician, showing his hard work.The unexpected
By Becky Mangan, 11, Y-Press
As we drove up and down the steep slopes to get to the Huber Orchard, in Starlight, Ind., I thought to myself, “I wonder what Mrs. Bush will be like?”
Passing a couple fields, I imagined the first lady speaking on a small wooden stage in the middle of one of them. Since we hadn’t passed many buildings on our journey once off I-65, I really didn’t expect to find a building in the vineyards. Mrs. Bush must have had similar thoughts.
“Isn't this the prettiest place? It's so lovely. When we drove up on the winding roads to get up here to the top of the hill, there were families sitting out on their front porches waving as we drove by, and it really was a great, very, very warm and friendly neighborhood," Mrs. Bush said later during her speech.
Finally, after winding our way through the back roads, we arrived at a more formal-looking building and all my images of the first lady speaking in a field vanished. When we entered the big building called Plantation Hall, we walked up to a table where receptionists were seated checking off names and looking at people’s IDs.
Mrs. Bush’s assistant, Kelsey Knight, greeted us and gave us all a press badge, which was a black-and-white 3.5” hexagon. The badge included a photo of the White House, with the words, “White House Press Pool” as a caption and a colorful number sticker. We had to wear it during the fundraiser. Then she showed us where we would be seated, by the food and drink tables.
Parents are key
By Becky Mangan, 11, Y-Press
After the first lady finished her remarks, we found Congressman Mike Sodrel’s chief of staff and press secretary, Cam Savage, who tracked down the congressman for us.
Behind the curtain and seated at a table, I stated the first question softly: "Between 2000-2004, the number of Indiana youth living in poverty increased 7 percent, and Indiana is number one in the nation for high school dropouts. How are you planning to help Indiana youth?”
U.S. Rep. Sodrel told us that he believes that education is more a state and local issue than a federal one.
"There are a lot of people who would like to turn Congress into a 535-person school board, but that won’t work very well. It takes local parents to work with their children; it takes local people who are interested in their schools, with the support of their state, and that’s really the first line in education.”
When we questioned him further, I could tell that he thought that he couldn't offer much help because he's a federal leader. He thinks that parents should have a primary influence on their children. He said, “We do offer financial assistance, and we do offer other kinds of assistance, but you know realistically from Washington you really can’t fix the things that are broken with education.”
But less than a year ago, Sodrel said in a news release: "Educating our nation's children is a national priority." He was talking about Head Start, which helps poor kids get a good preschool education.
While Mr. Sodrel believes that education is a national priority, he also pointed out that parents and local teachers understand the specific needs of children. According to Sodrel, the federal government can help preschoolers, but cannot do very much to lower Indiana’s high school dropout rate.
So, I’m wondering, if Mr. Sodrel works to support preschoolers through Head Start, why won’t he help Indiana high schoolers?
Boosting graduation rates
By Andy Goldblatt, 18, Y-Press
Indiana made headlines last spring -- most notably on the cover story of “Time” magazine as having the nation’s highest school dropout rate.
At last month’s Sodrel fundraiser, Y-Press asked Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman what the state is doing to boost high school graduation rates.
“We want to make sure that parents are intimately involved in their kids’ upbringing, and need as many programs as possible on responsible fatherhood, and responsible parenting,” the lieutenant governor said.
“We need to make sure that our youth have opportunities for summer jobs, and that businesses would call on our young people and let them serve as interns, and get them engaged in a profession they’re interested in so that they have a very important goal and work toward that.”
Essentially, Skillman called upon parents and businesses to help young people, not schools. She explained: “Our ultimate goal is to create more opportunities, to create more jobs, for our young people.”
Is she saying that the dropout rate isn’t necessarily the problem; rather, jobs are the problem? And does Indiana need help from Congress to create more Hoosier jobs?
On the other hand, Congressman Sodrel told us that local government needs to be more involved in schools, and that the federal government shouldn’t interfere much.
But if local governments don’t take the responsibility to improve education, who will?
Dining at Arby's
By Andy Goldblatt, 18, Y-Press
On the way back from the Sodrel fundraising event, the Y-Press team stopped at the Scottsburg Arby’s for dinner. As we were ordering, Becky Skillman came in. She remembered us, and we exchanged some friendly banter.
Shortly after we ordered, I stepped outside to take a phone call. As I was coming back inside, Skillman was leaving. So, being the gentleman I am, I held the door open for her.
Instead of the conventional “thank you,” she left me with the sound advice that a mother gives her child when leaving the house: “Be safe.”
First lady impresses
By L.J. Pennington, 12, Y-Press
Five Y-Press members, including me, tried to get Mrs. Bush’s attention during a fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Mike Sodrel a few weeks ago.
But the first lady couldn’t see us because it was so crowded, and we were shorter than the adults. It bothered me that we couldn’t be seen, and it seemed like we should have been given a place in front of the adults since a lot of her speech was about helping youth.
Mrs. Bush’s speech was pretty short. Since I’m a guy, I liked how she talked about helping boys in school.
This is part of what she said: “Research shows us that boys are more likely to drop out of school, and less likely to go to college. More boys than girls abuse drugs, join gangs, or engage in violent behavior. Almost three-quarters of the youth that are arrested are boys.”
I do well in school, but not all the other guys do. They need teachers to help them understand the work in class better. Sometimes guys are afraid to ask questions because they are afraid they’ll sound stupid so they just won’t ask.
President Bush’s “Helping America’s Youth” initiative might show teachers good ideas for teaching boys.
Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman was good to interview. She answered all our questions completely. We asked her how she’s helping youth. I liked it when she said this: “Everything we do is about our youth, because you are our future.” That made me feel important.
We didn’t get to interview Mrs. Bush, but we got to have a picture taken with her. My mom said it was a good opportunity.
Later, it was hard for me to believe that I was standing right next to the first lady of our country and got to shake her hand. She didn’t look like she was almost 60 years old. She looked younger. My mom still won’t vote for President Bush, but I thought his wife was nice.
Fundraiser was exciting
By Sarah Panfil, 10, Y-Press
When Y-Press members arrived at the Mike Sodrel fundraiser, I was so excited that I jumped up and down in my seat at the back of the van. And it wasn’t all that easy to jump out of my seat either: We were hot and sweaty, sticking to the vinyl seats, after being crammed in a van for nearly a three-hour drive to southern Indiana.
But the wait was worth it. I had never done anything like this in my whole life; I never imagined that I would be meeting the first lady.
Y-Press had requested an interview with Mrs. Bush, but weren’t sure if it would be granted. But I had this feeling that she would be excited to see us. I imagined her asking us for questions, and being terrifically surprised to see young journalists.
Unfortunately, the event didn’t turn out like I expected. We were seated in the back of the reception area and could hardly see the stage. We never did get to interact personally with Mrs. Bush beyond having our picture taken with her.
But we did get to talk to her deputy press secretary Tarah Donoghue about the Helping America’s Youth initiative, a presidential program that Mrs. Bush is leading. It is designed to help youth organizations work together.
We first asked Donoghue how youth groups could find out about grants to support them through the Helping America’s Youth initiative.
Y-Press editor Jordan Denari asked: “You’ve talked a lot about sharing information through “Helping America’s Youth,” but what does it do to directly affect the problems?”
“It’s not a specific program that Mrs. Bush is running; it is more a sharing of information and a highlighting and exposing of different great programs,” Donoghue replied.\
Mrs. Bush spoke more about the initiative in her speech, but it took a person from the audience to inform her that a group of young journalists were there to learn about it.
Mixing religion and politics
By Sarah Panfil, 10, Y-Press
Many people say religion and politics don’t mix, but that wasn’t the case at U.S. Rep. Mike Sodrel’s fundraiser.
Before the main speech had even begun, the pastor from Sodrel’s church in New Albany, Ind., Graceland Baptist, led the audience in a Christian prayer.
The songs performed at the fundraiser combined Christianity with politics even more.
Members of the Graceland Church choir sang “This is My Country,” a medley including “America the Beautiful;” and “In God We Still Trust,” written by Diamond Rio.
Here is a sample of the lyrics:
You place your hand on His bible, when you swear to tell the truth.His name is on our greatest monuments an' all our money too.
An' when we pledge allegiance, there's no doubt where we stand:
There's no separation, we're one nation under Him.
In God, we still trust here in America,
He's the one we turn to every time the going gets rough.
He is the source of all our strength, the one who watches over us.
Here in America, in God, we still trust.
As the lyrics make clear, the choir was emphasizing that there should not be a line between religion and politics. I wonder how many of Mike Sodrel’s constituents agree.
Scrambling for good seats
By Meera Patel, 14, Y-Press
“We have doors in 15 seconds. 10, 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1.”
With those words, the doors to the banquet hall were opened and the crowd rushed in, all scrambling to get good seats for the fundraising lunch in support of Baron Hill’s re-election to Congress. Former President Clinton was the primary speaker.
The crowd was dressed for the occasion. A couple ladies even wore patriotic feather hats, comprised of red, white and blue feathers on wide brims.
While enjoying what looked like a delicious pasta salad and chocolate cake, the crowd cheered the many speakers who rallied in support of Hill as he tries to regain his seat as the 9th district U.S. Representative. One man even whistled when Hill and Clinton were introduced.
Clinton called Hill, a “marathon man” meaning that he never gives up, and is in it for the long run.
And Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson called Hill “an honest man.”
“He will help restore the public’s faith in the United States Congress,” Peterson declared.
If Hill does regain his seat in the 9th district, this would be the second time a candidate in that district has held a seat, lost it, only to regain the seat again.
But the first time, the parties were switched: The election involved a Republican losing to a Democrat. In 1941, Republican Earl Wilson was elected and served until 1959 until he was upset by Democrat challenger Earl Hogan, who served one term.
Wilson took the seat back in 1961 and served an additional two terms before Democrat Lee Hamilton began his long tenure in the post. Now perhaps best known as vice chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, Hamilton was in Congress 34 years – from 1965 to 1999. Hill succeeded him and served three terms before Sodrel defeated him and began his term in 2005 – ending the Democrats’ 40-year reign in the district.
At this fundraiser, Democratic politicians made it clear that they want to take the district back to their party.
Power in first names
By Meera Patel, 14, Y-Press
Pele, Ronaldo, Julia, and Baron.
As a soccer player myself and someone who enjoys watching international competitions, I’ve learned that you’re not truly a superstar until everyone knows you by a single name.
Now I’ve figured out that’s the rule in politics too.
“Pele” (a nickname; his real name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento); and “Ronaldo” (his full name is Ronaldo Luis Nazário de Lima); are soccer superstars. But “Julia” is Julia Carson, the well-known congresswoman from Indiana; and “Baron” is Baron Hill, the former congressman trying to win his seat back from U.S. Rep. Mike Sodrel.
Democratic political consultant Michael O’Connor made this connection about first names at the July 5th luncheon held to raise money for the Hill campaign.
“Bill” is another one of those first names. It makes many people immediately think of former president Bill Clinton. During his fundraising speech for Hill, Clinton never once looked down at notes. His ability to easily explain the most complex ideas, such as the importance of a balanced federal budget, made his speech notable.
After his speech, the press crowded the stage in hope of an interview with Clinton himself. A couple other familiar faces, including Judy O’Bannon, businesswoman, philanthropist and former first lady to the late Gov. Frank O’Bannon, were there, too.
In her typical warm way, O’Bannon chatted with Y-Press members, asking us a lot of questions. She agreed that the simplicity of Bill Clinton’s speech was remarkable.
“(President Clinton) put in every day words very complex issues. And you have to be smart to know how to do it that way.
“And the guy is smart. Don’t you think? I think he has a little more gray matter up here than I have.”
O’Bannon also told us how important it is to be able to connect with an audience when making a speech or publishing a newspaper article.
And she knows the importance of this firsthand. O’Bannon hosts a public television show, “Communities Building Communities,” and owns O’Bannon Publishing Company, which publishes weekly newspapers, including The Corydon Democrat, in southern Indiana.
Specifically speaking
By Jordan Gaither, 15, Y-Press
After the speech that Bill Clinton gave we were able to get a quick interview with Baron Hill. The former congressman answered two questions from the Y-Press members concerning issues that affect young people. In his first response he stated how he plans to improve upon the drop out rate of high schoolers.
“We need to put more resources into programs that affect the daily lives of our kids and our adults. And having that kind of a dropout rate is a reflection of the money that we’re not spending in order to help these kids,” said Hill. He then pledged to support programs that will help our youth.
Then we asked him what he was going to do about the 10,000 Hoosier jobs that were lost between 2000 and 2004. Instead of answering the question asked, he talked about something else. He said, “We need to direct tax cuts to people who need it the most, and the people who need it the most are the people that you’re talking about.”
This was surprising to me at first because instead of directly answering the question on what he could do for jobs in Indiana he talked about tax cuts.
On his Web site it claims that Baron Hill will take care of jobs in Indiana, instead of specifically saying what he will do.
If candidate Hill doesn’t have specifics, how will Hoosier’s get help dealing with this problem?
Reporting difficult
By Keenen Brannon, 12, Y-Press
When a group of Y-Press members attended the Baron Hill fundraiser, we had to sit in the back with other media reporters. As journalists we can’t clap because we have to be unbiased, but that was hard for me. I’m used to clapping for people when they speak because I feel that it is a sign of respect.
What Bill Clinton did when he was president of the United States worked,” said Mayor Bart Peterson, as he praised Clinton’s common-sense policies during his time in the White House.
Next, the mayor introduced Julia Carson. It was my first time seeing the congresswoman in person. She talked about how kids aren’t getting the quality education they deserve and ways the government should better support education. She joked about her dislike for Bush and made other Republican jokes. The crowd laughed a lot.
Many people dressed up for the event. Carson’s neck was wrapped with a patriotic scarf that resembled the American flag. And most of the men wore trousers and dress shoes. The fundraiser wasn’t a jeans-t-shirt-and-tennis-shoes-kind-of thing. I didn’t know how serious and professional this was. I only wore long shorts and my Y-Press T-shirt, but at least I had on a fancy pair of tennis shoes that matched my shirt.
To attend the event, it cost $250 a person. All the people got to eat was pasta and cake, and about 420 people came. Now, I know I wouldn’t pay that much for a little meal like that. But I might spend that kind of money if I knew most of it was going to help elect a candidate I believed in. That’s why people were really there.From my seat in the back, Baron Hill and Bill Clinton looked identical to me. They had the same silver-gray hair and wore similar suits and ties. I thought they could be brothers. They even seemed to think the same and speak out about what was on their minds.
Thoughtful response
By Keenen Brannon, 12, Y-Press
At the end of Clinton’s speech, audience members lined up around the room to see if the former president would take pictures with them, or sign copies of his autobiography that they had brought along. After 20 minutes, people realized that Clinton had already left.However, Baron Hill remained. He walked around to have his pictures taken with supporters and to answer questions from audience members and journalists.
Y-Press journalists asked Baron Hill two questions. I asked him what he would do if elected to decrease Indiana’s increasing youth poverty rate and its staggering high school drop out rate, the highest in the nation.“We need to put more resources into programs that affect the daily lives of our kids and our adults,” Hill answered. “And having that kind of a dropout rate is a reflection of the money that we’re not spending in order to help these kids, so if I go to Congress I’m going to support programs like that.”
I liked his response because unlike some people he actually takes time to think about the kids and what they need.Originally published 8-27-06
Copyright 2006 Y-Press
