Changes in the payroll tax, a tax to pay for Social Security, weren’t included in the final negotiations over the fiscal cliff deal so they got little attention until the bill passed.  It means payroll taxes are going up by 2%, and, technically, it’s not a tax increase.  It’s the end of a tax holiday that’s been in place since 2010.

Just two House members from Indiana were among the 257 who voted for the fiscal cliff deal.  Democrat André Carson is one of them.  His spokesman says the payroll tax holiday was meant to be a temporary fix during high unemployment and that steps have to be taken now to reduce the deficit.  Democrat Joe Donnelly voted yes but calls the deal “far from perfect.”

So, while the President talks about protecting the middle class, the middle class will still have less take home pay, $50 a month less for someone who earns $30,000.  “They were saved from an increase in their tax rates but still everybody’s gonna pay more taxes,” says University of Indianapolis economist Matt Will.

John Ketzenberger of the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute says Congress did no favors for taxpayers.  “They just kicked the can down the road, added to the deficit,” he said, “and we still get a middle class tax increase.”

Indiana Senator Dick Lugar voted for the fiscal cliff deal and so did fellow Republican Dan Coats, who called it the lesser of two evils.  A spokeswoman for Coats says there was bi-partisan opposition to the idea of continuing the tax holiday.

So while the President focused on higher taxes for individuals who make more than $400,000 and couples who make more than $450,000 saying “Everyone pays their fair share, everyone does their part,” fairness may be in the eye of the beholder.

Congressman-elect Luke Messer (6th District) is moving to Washington and he’s taking his family with him.  There is some political risk attached to the decision yet Messer says it was an easy one for his family to make.  He and his wife have three children and they have already found a home in Virginia.  “I’m very serious about being a good Congressman,” says Messer, “but I’m also serious about being a good dad and a good husband.”

Residency has been a high profile issue this year as Senator Richard Lugar was defeated in part because he used a west side home as a voting residence while he lived in a Washington suburb in Virginia.  Residency questions also contributed to a primary loss for Congressional candidate David McIntosh, but Messer says he’s ready to defend his decision.  “I will tell you we’re being very clear about what we’re gonna do,” he says. “I campaigned and made very clear during my campaign that this was a factor that we would do as a family and I think it’s important to stay connected to your district which we’ll work hard to do.”

Messer has two daughters and a son, ages 9, 8, and 5 and says the fact that they are so young is one reason why he is unwilling to commute.   Messer, who is from Shelbyville, plans to keep an Indiana residence and says he will have at least three district offices.  He also says he will have what he calls an “aggressive” travel schedule in the effort to return frequently.

His family plans to make the move in late January.  He says, “For our family we are certain this is the right choice.”  Of course, it will ultimately be up to the voters to decide if it’s the right decision for them.

All but one Indiana Republican in Congress has signed the taxpayer protection pledge from the Americans for Tax Reform and its leader, Grover Norquist. That pledge promising to oppose tax hikes is central to the current Washington debate over solutions to the fiscal cliff, the series of tax increases and spending cuts that will go into effect in January if Congress doesn’t reach a compromise.

In the House of Representatives, Larry Bucshon, Dan Burton, Mike Pence, Todd Rokita, Marlin Stutzman and Todd Young have all signed the pledge.  In a video on his website, however, Rokita puts out a warning regarding the fiscal cliff.  “Allowing the current tax rates to expire will hit Americans at all income levels,” he says.  “We simply cannot let that happen.”  Yet he stands by the pledge.

Burton also says he won’t vote for a tax hike.  In a speech on his website he says, “We’ve gotta control spending, we’ve gotta cut spending, we’ve gotta look at the entitlements and the rules and regulations we have to live by.”

Todd Young told 24 Hour News 8 that “comprehensive tax reform ought to be part of a fiscal cliff package, and that everything should be on the table as far as that goes.”

Senator Dan Coats has also signed the pledge.  His spokesperson says Coats is willing to consider tax hikes to prevent the massive tax hike from the fiscal cliff, if they are offset by spending reforms.  That’s not what Grover Norquist wants to hear.

Finally, Dick Lugar is the only Indiana Republican in Congress who hasn’t signed the pledge. He’s one of 7 Republican Senators who never did.  His spokesman notes that others are now backing away from the pledge and says Lugar is willing to support a reasonable deal that includes tax hikes to avoid what he calls the draconian effects of the fiscal cliff.

It’s been a long day of campaigning for both Democrat Joe Donnelly and Republican Richard Mourdock.  They are in Indianapolis tonight but they started the day on opposite ends of the state.

Donnelly voted in South Bend where he has represented the area as a Congressman for the last six years.  This is his first run for statewide office and he remains the favorite in what should be a close race.  He is still making comparisons between himself and Mourdock.  “We’re conservative and we’re common sense,” he said after voting, “and we’re not a state that goes for extremes and I think that’s what he represents.”

Richard Mourdock, who is in his second term as state Treasurer, voted in Darmstadt, his hometown.
That’s near Evansville and there was a crowd of supporters there to cheer him on.  “This is good stuff!” he told them.

This is a campaign that started about 21 months ago when Mourdock announced his plan to challenge Richard Lugar in the Republican primary.  Donnelly got into the race in the hope that Mourdock would win in May and, if he wins tonight, this has all worked out according to the Democratic plan.

Senator Richard Lugar won’t campaign for Richard Mourdock yet he is campaigning for another Republican, Attorney General Greg Zoeller.  Lugar is staying out of the Senate race but he’s clearly not quitting politics.  It helps make the point that his refusal to campaign for Mourdock is personal and intentional.

Just last Thursday Dick Lugar hosted a fundraiser at the Conrad Hotel for Greg Zoeller.  Zoeller has distributed photos of it on his website and his facebook page showing Lugar delivering remarks, posing for pictures and working the crowd.  We caught up with Zoeller by phone in Washington, DC.  “I’ve supported him over the years,” said Zoeller, “so I was glad to have his help and would accept it again.”

For Lugar, it’s the return of a favor.  Zoeller appeared in one of his ads before the May primary.  But it comes at a time when others are trying to convince voters that Lugar and Mourdock hold similar views without the benefit of a Lugar campaign appearance.  “Richard Mourdock is so much closer to Richard Lugar than the other gentleman,” said South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham at a Mourdock event yesterday.

It’s an argument that’s hurt by this this list of differences between Lugar and Mourdock that was still on the Internet today as Mourdock tries to downplay the need for a Lugar endorsement.  “It has been the longstanding tradition of Senator Lugar which is fully his right,” said Mourdock yesterday, “to campaign or not campaign for whomever he likes to campaign for.”

Lugar gave Zoeller fundraising help but Zoeller says he needs to run on his own.  “You can’t really borrow credibility from somebody else in this game,” he said.  Yet that’s exactly what supporters of Richard Mourdock would like to see when it comes to winning the votes of Lugar Republicans.

The Mourdock campaign removed the webpage listing differences between Lugar and Mourdock after we brought it to their attention.  They say it was an “orphan” link that they thought was taken down after the May primary.

The bottom line is that Mourdock was spelling out his differences with Lugar then and wants to spell his similarities with Lugar now.

The three candidates for U.S. Senate met in a televised debate Monday night.  From the outset Democrat Joe Donnelly and Republican Richard Mourdock were at odds.

Donnelly made blatant appeals to the Lugar Republicans who may decide this race calling Dick Lugar, the man Mourdock defeated in the May primary, an American hero.  “You sent out a letter about Senator Lugar where you said he betrayed conservatives,” said Donnelly, “and the word betrayed… you can disagree, but betrayed?”

The reference was to a campaign mailer following the primary that Mourdock says he regrets.  “To Senator Lugar, he is a good honorable man,” said Mourdock, “and we appreciate the fact that he said he will support us as we go forward.”

Mourdock did all he could to connect Donnelly to the President, “And the fact that you’ve again endorsed President Obama,” he said.  “His policies have not worked.  I thought they were going to have a balloon drop and a confetti drop when they announced 7.8% percent unemployment the other day.”  That led Donnelly to point to work he did with Senator Lugar to save auto companies.  “I said I would vote for the President because he stood with those workers then as well,” he said.  “But I am just as happy to work with a Governor Romney.”

Afterward both candidates talked about how Lugar Republicans will react.  “They realize they heard Congressman Donnelly today double down on his support for Barack Obama,” said Mourdock.  “He couldn’t name one Democrat he could work with and this is the second time that that’s happened,” said Donnelly, “and you know I’m stunned by it.”

Libertarian Andy Horning served mostly as a buffer.  At one point he begged voters to “vote for me just one time.”  Following the debate Mourdock declined to grade his performance, while the Donnelly campaign declared victory in a news release.  Donnelly didn’t go that far himself saying only that the new release will make it easier to go back to the office.

It may be Election day before we know which candidate did a better job of getting through to those Lugar Republicans.

Former President Clinton appeared on stage at North Central High School with two Democratic candidates, John Gregg and Joe Donnelly.  Clinton came at the invitation of John Gregg, the Democrat running for governor, but while Gregg stood behind the former President, and alongside Joe Donnelly, it may be Donnelly, the Senate candidate, who benefited most from the Clinton speech.

Here’s how Clinton characterized his opponent, Republican Richard Mourdock.  “What is this idea that it’s my way or the highway?” asked Clinton.  “Let me tell ya, I tell everybody all the time I was raised to believe that nobody’s right all the time. Now, maybe Mr. Mourdock is, I don’t know. He’s way right all the time, I know that.”

Three thousand tickets were passed out for the free event.  A thousand people were turned away.  The hope from Democrats is that energy generated at the rally will spread.  There were even some thinly veiled appeals to Lugar Republicans as Clinton talked about Mourdock’s primary victory.  “I thought he’d at least might have acknowledged that Dick Lugar made this country a safer, stronger place for 30 years,” said the former President, “and not be so ungracious.”

“He’s talking to everyone in Indiana,” said Donnelly, “and saying your vote is critical here.”

Next week Arizona Senator John McCain and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will be in Indiana to campaign for Mourdock.

Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock is getting new help today from one of the outside groups that attacked Dick Lugar for his benefit during the GOP primary race.  The Club for Growth adds an interesting twist to the Senate race because the Washington-based political action committee led by former Indiana Congressman Chris Chocola.  He lost his seat in Congress to Joe Donnelly, the candidate now under attack in Club for Growth ads.

The new ads seek to undo the bi-partisan image Joe Donnelly touts in his own ads calling him a “typical Washington liberal.”  It’s an $800,000 ad buy.  For Chocola and the Club for Growth it’s an attack on an old opponent.  Chocola beat Joe Donnelly in 2004 and lost to him in 2006.  Reached by phone in Elkhart, he said it’s not personal, “This is about the country.” said Chocola. “It’s not about me or him.  It’s about having policies that get us back on track.”

That’s the same reason Club for Growth attacked Dick Lugar in the spring.  Then, Mourdock welcomed the help and now his campaign spokesman says the Club for Growth ads are accurate.  New Mourdock ads contain a similar message saying, “Washington politicians like President Obama and Congressman Donnelly had their chance but they’ve only made things worse.”

A Donnelly campaign spokesman says the ads are evidence that Mourdock’s Washington supporters have hit the panic button.  The Democrat wants to focus on jobs.  “Richard Mourdock wants to play a national game,” says Donnelly.  “He wants to get involved in national discussions.  I want to make sure the family in Bedford, or Evansville, or Mitchell has a chance to have a good job next year.”

But if Joe Donnelly is to win the Senate race he must defeat Chris Chocola again.

Karl Rove was George W. Bush’s top political advisor.  He founded a Republican Super PAC and an organization affiliated with it just spent over $600,000 dollars on political ads here in Indiana.  This is all about keeping Dick Lugar’s Senate seat in the Republican column.  Richard Mourdock’s primary defeat of Lugar leaves the seat up for grabs.

Ads from the organization known as Crossroads GPS will be on the air for at least the next couple of weeks.  They attack Democrat Joe Donnelly accusing him of voting to raise the debt ceiling four times, among other things.

“This is a tie ballgame.” says Donnelly spokeswoman Elizabeth Shappell, “and Joe Donnelly’s going to be working very hard and it’s obvious that they know this is going to be a very tight race.”

Republican Richard Mourdock has nothing to do with the ads but stands to benefit from them.  “Any help that will provide further insight into Mr. Donnelly’s record is welcome,” says Mourdock spokesman Chris Conner.

Shappell complains that the ads are secretly funded and accuses Rove of “trying to buy this Senate seat from Hoosier voters.”

Some of those donors might be from Indiana but in a skype interview from Washington the spokesman for Crossroads GPS indicated that they are mostly from other parts of the country.  “You know I don’t have the donors,” said Nate Hobson, “that’s not my area of expertise but these are folks who are concerned about the direction of our country just like I’m sure many folks in Indiana are.”  Certainly Karl Rove is.

• Why is Dick Lugar on national TV these days while Richard Mourdock has been out of sight?  Is Mourdock getting some “mainstream” training?
• Who, if anyone, in the Indiana delegation will fill the Sunday morning void once Lugar is done and Mitch Daniels is out of office?  They’ve been frequent guests on the interview shows, a place where Evan Bayh also used to show up with some regularity.  Marlin Stutzman?
• Lugar said that Indiana Republicans didn’t appreciate that he was traveling the world doing important things when he missed party functions back home.  Who was supposed to tell him that without the party functions, you don’t get to do the travel?
• Marco Rubio will help Indiana Republicans raise money next week.  Is that a Romney running mate tryout?
• I gave a speech the other day to a service organization made up of men with an average age of 74 or 75.  All of the lunchtime conversation was about how extremists have taken over politics.  I was reminded of the guy who said there’s noting in the middle of road but yellow lines and possums.