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.

Indianapolis– (WISH) One result of the Newtown massacre is a renewed debate in this country over gun control and related issues.  It’s a debate that’s headed for Congress.  And it won’t play out just in Congress.  For example, Governor-elect Mike Pence said in a statement today that he will order a “comprehensive evaluation of school security measures” here in Indiana after he takes office.

Congressman-elect Luke Messer, standing below a Shelbyville flag lowered to half staff because of the Newtown tragedy, expects action.  “I do think you will see the next Congress try to take some action here,” says the man who will replace Pence as the 6th District representative.

But that action may not be the assault weapons ban that the President supports.  It expired in 2004.  Luke Messer says gun bans aren’t the answer.   “History shows these kind of bans don’t work,” he said.  “They take away a freedom from law abiding folks and they don’t take guns away from those who end up being the eventual perpetrators.”

And it may not be new regulations on gun sales with an emphasis on background checks sought by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.  Messer wants to see a new, comprehensive approach to dealing with mental illness, and he says another ban could help, a ban on violent video games.  “There’s no virtue to the games,” says Messer.  “I think we maybe oughta look at what we can do to ban them.”  He says those games often spur violence and have no positive effects.

Of course, Luke Messer is just one of the people in the Congress who will take part in this debate and we still don’t have a starting point.  A spokesman for the President said today that Barack Obama believes that gun violence is complex problem requiring a complex solution.  He will propose one.

People around the country are signing online petitions to break up the Union.  It’s a reaction to the re-election of President Obama and it’s a movement that includes a petition for Indiana to secede from the United States.

Here’s the irony:  the petitions are on the White House website.  They likely won’t accomplish anything, but the Obama administration will give a formal response to any petition that attracts more than 25,000 signatures in a month.  The Texas petition has more than 66,000 signatures already, a fact that prompted Texas Governor Rick Perry to issue a statement saying he “believes in the greatness of the Union.”

Derek Belcher filed the Alabama petition.  He thinks the federal government is out of control.  “They are taxing us to death,” he said, “and they are taking our freedoms away at a break neck speed.”

More than 14,000 people have signed an Indiana petition but a close inspection shows that most of them don’t live here.  Regardless, GOP State Representative Tim Brown of Crawfordsville gave them encouragement.  “Everybody has a right to sign a petition that they feel comfortable with,” he said.

But that prompted House Speaker Brian Bosma to make an effort to put the Obama re-election in perspective.  “We’ll work through this,” said Bosma.  “The Republic will survive.  That’s what I’ve told people who asked me, wringing their hands about the future of the country, the Republic will survive.”

Plus, there’s now a competing petition on the White House website.  It calls on the President to strip the citizenship of anyone who signs a secession petition and have them deported.

Washington Republicans stepped up the efforts to help Richard Mourdock win the Indiana Senate race today.  No fewer than four Republican Senators are in Fort Wayne campaigning for Richard Mourdock.  They include John Cornyn of Texas, the man in charge of GOP Senate races.

Mourdock was at the Statehouse earlier to accept an award from 60 Plus, a national group that calls itself a conservative alternative to AARP.  He told the small crowd that changes are coming to government entitlements.  “Whenever they come, for those people who on that day are over the age of 55,” said Mourdock, “every promise that has ever been made in Social Security and Medicare must be kept to the penny.”

Meantime, new ads from the Karl Rove-led PAC, Crossroads GPS, try to tie Democrat Joe Donnelly to the President.  “But when President Obama needed Donnelly’s vote to pass his trillion dollar health care bill,” the ad says, “Donnelly said yes.”  While Mourdock tells voters to consider which party will the control the Senate.  “You know this race is about whether or not Harry Reid’s gonna be the majority leader,” said Mourdock. “That’s why I’ve got friends coming to town.”

“All he cares about is Washington,” says Donnelly of Mourdock, “and he is an exact epitome of why Washington is broken cause all he focuses on is Washington.”  Donnelly wants to focus on statewide issues and in his newest ad he literally stands in the middle of the road as a now familiar passing driver yells, “Hey, Donnelly, it’s my way or the highway.”   Donnelly reacts by saying, “We need less reckless partisanship and more Hoosier common sense.”

He has tried to distance himself from some of the President’s issues but says he’ll vote for him.  “President Obama at crunchtime stood up for the workers of Indiana,” said Donnelly.  “He’s not perfect, none of us are.”

Both the Mourdock campaign and the Indiana Republican Party thought that Donnelly’s plan to vote for Obama was big news.  They both put it in news releases.  Polls show that in Indiana, it’s easier to find opponents to the President than it is to find supporters for Mourdock.

Mitt Romney made his fifth Indiana campaign stop Wednesday delivering a downtown speech to the national convention of the American Legion.

He flew here from Tampa, arriving on stage ahead of schedule and then, after remarks that lasted just 16 minutes, headed back to Florida and the Republican National Convention.  In his speech Romney made no mention of Indiana and probably didn’t need to.  He holds a double digit lead here.

Instead he focused on foreign policy and defense issues.  He also made frequent attacks on President Obama in what amounts to a warm up for his nomination speech Thursday night.

“Where the President has failed to lead,” he said, “we will protect our national defense from cuts that will jeopardize critical missions.  Where he’s let down our veterans, we will welcome them home to a booming economy and the jobs they need.  Where he’s dodged the tough choices,” he went on, “we will confront them head on and deliver a better future for Americans of this generation and the next.”

He said there was one reason for not staying in Tampa to polish it.  “When our nation called you answered.” he said, “and I consider any opportunity to address our nation’s veterans a privilege not to be missed.”

Romney asked the crowd to tune in tonight for the speech by his running mate Paul Ryan and he shook hands for several minutes following his remarks.

It was a low key performance but a receptive crowd.  The President spoke to the American Legion Convention last year and sent videotaped remarks yesterday.

Same sex marriage is already against the law in Indiana and lawmakers are in the process of creating a constitutional ban on same sex marriage.  It means that President Obama’s statements in favor of same sex marriage will likely have little effect here.

Just last year the Indiana House passed the resolution that could lead to a permanent ban for the first time.  The state Senate has approved it six times.  It must pass again before it can go to a statewide referendum.  When asked if there is any doubt that it will come up in 2013 state Senator Jim Merritt says, “No, I don’t think there’s any doubt whatsoever.”

Never mind that the governor thinks there should be a truce on social issues during difficult economic times.  “And so I thought it was an incredibly unfortunate,” said Mitch Daniels, “to once again stir up something that on which Americans have a deep disagreement when we ought concentrate on those things that might bring us together.”

But in Indiana there’s not much disagreement.  The last time the same sex marriage ban was voted on it passed the state Senate with bi-partisan support.  The vote was 40-to-10.  There have been protest rallies and, when Democrats controlled the House, they prevented votes on the ban, but there are no roadblocks in sight now.

Senator Greg Taylor is an opponent of the ban.  He wouldn’t be surprised by another 40-to-10 vote.  “I can’t predict the future,” he says, “but I can tell you with a high probability it could be about the same numbers.”

Because of that don’t look for a lot of same sex marriage talk in Indiana campaigns.  “I think it will be a large campaign issue on a national scene,” says Sen. Merritt, “but I don’t believe it will be a campaign issue here.”

If the ban on the same sex marriage is approved by the General Assembly in 2013, as expected, it will then go to a statewide refendum in 2014.

Indiana Congressman Dan Burton is one of 10 U.S. Representatives challenging the President’s use of military force in Libya.  From AP:

The lawmakers say Obama violated the Constitution in bypassing Congress and using international organizations like the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to authorize
military force.  The lawmakers want a judge to issue an order suspending military operations without congressional approval. They said they were filing their lawsuit Wednesday against Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
The plaintiffs are Democratic Reps. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, John Conyers of Michigan and Michael Capuano of Massachusetts and Republican Reps. Walter Jones and Howard Coble of North Carolina,
Tim Johnson of Illinois, Dan Burton of Indiana, Jimmy Duncan of Tennessee, Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland and Ron Paul of Texas.

The White House just released a statement from President Obama regarding a new START treaty:

“I want to acknowledge an important step forward today that will advance our national security.   This afternoon, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted in favor of the New START Treaty, and I am pleased that it did so with strong bipartisan support.  I called the committee chairman, Senator (John) Kerry, and Senator (Richard) Lugar, the ranking member, to express my gratitude for their leadership, and I commend the members of the committee for their thoughtful review of this treaty. ”

GOP Senate candidate Dan Coats has a new ad on the air today with one purpose:  connect Brad Ellsworth with President Obama. 

The ad features Coats on camera saying, among other things, “Disastrous bank bailout.   The stimulus bill that grew government, not jobs.  Obama health care.  All of those bad ideas, he (Ellsworth) supported.”

It’s a nothing fancy, straight-off-the-polling-research message.

An Indiana Congressman is attracting nationwide attention for a controversial new campaign commercial. Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-2nd District) is taking extraordinary steps to separate himself from President Obama and to portray himself as independent in his race against Republican Jackie Walorski.

The new ad spells out Donnelly’s position on immigration reform which is contrary to the Obama Administration lawsuit challenging an Arizona law. The attention getting moment comes, however, when Donnelly explains his position. “Because no one should ever be rewarded for breaking the law,” says Donnelly in the ad. “That may not be what the Washington crowd wants but I don’t work for them. I work for you.”

The ad shows the President in the same frame with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader John Boehner when he refers to “the Washington crowd.”

Republicans are already calling the ad deceitful. They say Donnelly is part of the Washington crowd while a Donnelly spokesman says that his independence sets him apart.

Either way, Donnelly probably won’t be getting much campaign help from the White House now.