Dems make Ellsworth official pick to face Coats

U.S. Rep. Brad Ellsworth became the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate on Saturday, without going through a primary election
— a method that brings benefits as well as drawbacks.

Ellsworth, long the presumptive nominee, was chosen over Bob Kern of Marion County by the Democratic Central Committee. After
the secret ballots were tallied and the vote announced, committee members and other Democrats at the meeting in Indianapolis
gave Ellsworth a standing ovation.

"I'm humbled and I'm very proud at this moment to have the chance to go and represent you," Ellsworth told
the crowd.

The Republican candidate, former Sen. Dan Coats, welcomed Ellsworth to the general election race.

"Hoosiers will hear two dramatically different views about the direction our country should be heading, and about the
future of Indiana," Coats said.

Coats and Ellsworth are both seeking the seat now held by Democrat Evan Bayh, who said in February that he wouldn't seek
re-election.

Republicans have criticized Ellsworth as being anointed without turning to voters, while Democrats say they had no choice.
Bayh's announcement came one day before the deadline for candidates to submit the 4,500 signatures needed to get on the
primary ballot. No Democrats met that deadline, so the state party's central committee picked the nominee.

Avoiding a bruising primary may offer Ellsworth some advantages: he didn't have to spend money on commercials and there
were no Democratic challengers lining up to attack him.

But a primary is also a chance to experiment with campaign strategies, determine what issues voters respond to and hone your
message, said James McCann, a Purdue University political science professor.

"A well-contested primary election where everybody kisses and makes up afterward — that can actually be quite
rejuvenating and therapeutic for a party," said McCann. "The lack of a substantive debate and contest here on the
Democratic side could be a missed opportunity."

Coats took some political punches during the five-way GOP primary race. Other Republicans portrayed Coats as a rich Washington
insider who does not support gun rights and who has lived away from Indiana for too long. Coats said after the primary —
in which he won 39 percent of the vote — that it made him a stronger candidate heading into the general election.

"I'm a better person and I'm more sharply prepared and more ready to engage in this fight because of all the
effort that we have all put in," Coats said at an event with the four losing candidates.

Republicans kept up their disapproval of how Democrats chose their nominee. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, head of the national
committee to elect Republicans, said in a statement Saturday that Ellsworth was "hand-picked by his Democrat Party bosses."

Indiana Republican Chairman Murray Clark called it "the greatest case of voter disenfranchisement in the history of
Indiana."

"While Rep. Brad Ellsworth didn't have to acknowledge his tenure in Congress as he cruised to victory today, it's
my hope that he will finally explain for Hoosiers why he has supported the massive spending and expansion of government we
have seen from Democrats in Washington," Clark said in a statement.

But there doesn't seem to be much voter outrage over the way Ellsworth was chosen, said Karen Kay Leonard, president
of the Indiana League of Women Voters, which doesn't endorse specific parties or candidates.

"An open primary's an important thing, but obviously Evan Bayh didn't give Democrats the chance to do some of
the things they would have done otherwise," Leonard said.

McCann said anyone upset over how Ellsworth was selected is likely a Republican already and isn't on the fence about
whom to support, and predicted the issue would have a short shelf life.

Ellsworth won 28 out of 29 votes from the Democratic Central Committee, with Indiana Stonewall Democrats abstaining as a
way to spur Ellsworth and the state party to do more to support gay rights.

The group said afterward that Ellsworth implemented a gay-friendly employment policy as Vanderburgh County sheriff but voted
against a hate crime bill in Congress. It said its abstention was not a show of support for Coats and it hoped to work with
Ellsworth and the party to develop a better relationship. But the group said that the party and Ellsworth needed to earn its
vote.

"We will no longer go along for the sake of 'party unity' with a party that too frequently fails to unify with
us," the group said in a statement.