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April
8, 2002 8:50 a.m. |
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Indiana Democrats have their way, Gary Condit won't be the only member
of Congress to lose a primary this year. The difference in Indiana, however,
is that they're targeting a conservative Republican.
Since 1994, Mark Souder has represented Indiana's Fourth District — the Fort Wayne area in the northeast corner of the state, and a seat once occupied by Dan Quayle and Dan Coats. He's been a steady voice of conservatism in Congress, complaining about excessive spending to the point that it sometimes irritates House GOP leaders. He is also a friend to social conservatives. "Mark Souder is one of the most important members on the Hill for us," says Connie Mackey of the Family Research Council.
Republicans haven't had to worry about him every two years, either. Although he knocked off an incumbent Democrat to win the seat, Souder has not faced a difficult election since then.
Until now, possibly. That's because redistricting has changed the shape of the district — it's so hacked up, in fact, that it's now called the Third District. It remains safely Republican, but many of Souder's potential constituents have never encountered his name on a ballot before. They have seen the name of his Republican primary opponent, Paul Helmke, the former three-term mayor of Fort Wayne who ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in 1998 against Evan Bayh.
Helmke almost certainly will need the help of Democrats to defeat Souder. Indiana has open primaries, which means that Democrats can vote in GOP primaries and Republicans can vote in Democratic ones. "People are unhappy in the sense that Souder is too far to the right or too extreme and I'm more the mainstream, traditional approach," said Helmke, in a recent interview with Fort Wayne's Journal Gazette. As a top-ranking member of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Helmke became a valuable Republican ally of his Yale Law School classmate Bill Clinton, supporting the former president's 1993 tax increase. He also raised taxes as mayor of Fort Wayne.
"You couldn't
come up with a clearer ideological difference in a Republican primary,"
says Stephen Goldsmith, the former mayor of Indianapolis and now a member
of the Bush administration.
Several Democrats have spoken openly about their desire to see Helmke
oust Souder. "He is entirely too far to the right on too many issues,"
Vesta Fausnight, "a longtime Democrat," told the Journal
Gazette. "I want to make sure Helmke makes it on the ticket."
Mike Nusbaumer, another local resident, says he will vote in a GOP primary
for the first time this year. "It's the only option of unseating
Mark Souder," he said.
Helmke has defended the practice of crossover voting. "There is nothing wrong with trying to convert Democrats," he has said.
That's a legitimate point — as long as the converts are faithful. True believers, however, will be sticking with Souder this spring.