Republican Michael Bailey's bid to unseat freshman 9th District Democratic congressman Baron Hill hasn't gone quite as planned after his upset win in the May primary. He hasn't run television commercials, despite saying in May that he would be on the air early and often. But we're going to have to fight for every vote. He is airing TV commercials and has the backing of prominent Democrats locally and nationally. While Overton is supporting Bailey, she says she hasn't given him any money and probably won't.
Most political analysts believe the seat is safely in the Democratic column.
Bailey begs to differ. Bailey upset the Republican establishment by winning a narrow victory in the May 2 primary over Kevin Kellems, who had the backing of many big-name Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, for whom Kellems once worked, and House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas. Even though he hasn't received large amounts of party money, Bailey said he has been successful. He opposes homosexuals in the military and women in combat. At the same time, Bailey has toned down his rhetoric, eliminating potentially divisive comments that were on his Web site before the primary.