Indiana state Rep. Jackie Walorski (R), who is challenging Rep. Joe Donnelly (D) in the 2nd district, was in the nation's capital Saturday to participate in a tea party rally against a health care bill the House is expected to pass Sunday afternoon.

In an interview with CQ Politics, Walorski described the D.C. rally as a "last-ditch effort" to stop a bill Democratic leaders say they have the votes to advance despite determined Republican opposition.

"I came here to stand with folks in Indiana, in the 2nd district and some of the surrounding areas, to just tell Joe Donnelly to vote 'no' and to add my support to the fact that 75 percent of Americans don't want anything to do with this bill. They want Congress to start over," Walorski said.

You decide: Scare tactics or important information sharing?

More health care advertising began airing Friday, with groups both for and against the Democrats' legislation dropping approximately $1.5 million on television and radio buys to push their side of the debate.

Two conservative advocacy groups are up with new television ads opposing the bill. Americans for Prosperity is targeting 18 Democratic House members with a $750,000 buy, while the American Future Fund is going after Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) a 60-second spot airing statewide through next week at a cost of $250,000.

The AFF ad is the second in a series targeting Democratic Senators, which started Thursday with another $250,000 buy in Nevada criticizing Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

The No. 2-ranking Republican in the Senate has already given the maximum political contribution to former Sen. Dan Coats (R), who's running to reclaim his former seat in Indiana.

Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) gave Coats' campaign $10,000 on Feb. 18 from his leadership political action committee, Senate Majority Fund, according to a filing Thursday with the Federal Election Commission.

Kyl was first elected to the Senate in 1994 and served for four years with Coats, who retired at the end of 1998.

The re-election campaign of Rep. Dan Burton (R) is circulating a poll that aims to show Burton, who survived a scare in the 2008 election, well-positioned to win a May 4 primary against five opponents.

The poll of 300 likely voters was conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.66 percentage points, Burton had 43 percent of the vote and no other candidate broke double-digits, with 26 percent undecided.

Former state Rep. Luke Messer had 9 percent and ex-congressional aide Brose McVey and former Marion County coroner John McGoff had 8 percent.

The strongest Senate choice for Indiana Republicans -- for now, anyway -- appears to be former Rep. John Hostettler.

A Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll conducted Feb. 22-24. found Hostettler polling better against the presumed Democratic choice, Rep. Brad Ellsworth, than did former Sen. Dan Coats (R).

Hostettler led Ellsworth, 40 percent to 34 percent, in what would be a rematch of the 2006 races in which Ellsworth easily ousted Hostettler from the House. The survey found Coats, who retired from the Senate in 1999, polling at 37 percent to Ellsworth's 36 percent.

Coats had the highest unfavorability rating of all candidates tested (36 percent), a sign that Democratic attacks on his post-Senate background as a lobbyist have been effective.

Rep. Baron P. Hill (D-Ind.) announced Saturday that he will not seek the seat of retiring Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), clearing the way for Rep. Brad Ellsworth to be the Democratic standard bearer in November.

Hill was overseas when Bayh made his shocking announcement that he would not run for another term on Feb. 15, just one day before a key state filing deadline.

The southern Indiana Congressman has expressed interest in running statewide previously, and after he returned from a CODEL to Afghanistan he said he was mulling the Senate race -- even though by that point Ellsworth had emerged as the heir apparent for the nod to succeed Bayh.

"I took some needed time this week to thoughtfully reflect upon what had transpired," Hill said in a statement. " I would like to thank all those whose honest input I sought, including members of the Indiana Democratic Party's Central Committee and folks from the Ninth District." 

Hill also offered support for Ellsworth, who faces a couple of little-known Democrats in his quest to become the party's nominee. The state party's 32-member central committee will ultimately pick their candidate after the state's May 4 primary.

"I believe my friend and colleague, Congressman Brad Ellsworth, is the right man to fulfill the task of ensuring a Democrat is elected to succeed Senator Bayh," Hill said.

Hill said he agreed with Bayh that the current level of partisanship in Washington, D.C. is alarming, but he said he has decided to stay and fight to improve it.

"I opt to stay in the game and continue to serve as an independent voice for my Southern Indiana constituents," Hill said. 

Republicans are targeting Hill for defeat in November. Several candidates are seeking the nomination to unseat him, including former Rep. Mike Sodrel.

-- Lauren W. Whittington

Indiana Democratic officials this weekend will get a first look at Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D), the party's leading candidate for the seat of retiring Sen. Evan Bayh (D).

This afternoon, Ellsworth will present his case for the Democratic nomination to a committee of party officials in Indiana's 5th district, which includes the meeting city of Noblesville north of Indianapolis.

Most if not all of the nine district party organizations in the state will hold similar forums. The idea is to vet the Senate hopefuls transparently and to provide feedback to a 32-member state central committee that will formally select a nominee right after the May 4 primary election.

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) on Wednesday praised the Senate candidacy of Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-Ind.) even as Rep. Baron P. Hill and lesser-known Democrats are still weighing bids.

Ellsworth, a moderate two-term Democrat who represents the conservative-leaning 8th district, "represents the views of Hoosiers in that state," Menendez told reporters at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.

Menendez noted that Ellsworth has taken formal steps to run for Senate. Ellsworth announced his Senate candidacy Feb. 19 and formally withdrew his re-election campaign on Feb. 22, the deadline to remove his name from the May 4 primary ballot.

Count Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) among the Republicans calling attention to the unusual process by which Democrats will select a nominee for the seat of retiring Sen. Evan Bayh (D).

"It's a kingmaker's delight," Daniels he told reporters Tuesday at a Washington, D.C., breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. He said so-called Democratic "bosses," not the primary electorate, will pick the candidate.

Daniels was referring to a committee of 32 Democratic officials who have to pick a candidate after Bayh announced his retirement one day before a critical candidate filing deadline that no Democrat met.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) says he neither expects nor desires to run for president in 2012 but wants to be a participant in a "grown-up conversation" about the precarious state of the nation's finances.

"It's the longest of longshots ... I don't plan to do it. I don't expect to do it. I really don't want to do it," Daniels told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast in Washington, D.C. "I'm just very concerned about the condition and direction of the country and would like to have some input into a constructive Republican alternative that is presented in a way that actually has a chance of actually being enacted, if the campaign is successful."

Daniels, a former budget director to President George W. Bush who will reach the end of his two-term limit as governor in 2012, said that the Republican Party should present budget alternatives that have "intellectual credibility" and are presented to voters "in a tone that is friendly and inviting."

Just because Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-Ind.) is running for the Senate doesn't necessarily mean Rep. Baron P. Hill (D-Ind.) won't.

"I'm open to the idea," Hill said Monday in Indiana, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. "It doesn't mean that I'm going to do it."

Hill returned to Indiana this past weekend after a week long military trip overseas that was bookended by Sen. Evan Bayh's (D) surprise retirement announcement on Feb. 15 and Ellsworth's declaration of candidacy on Feb. 19.

After much hemming and hawing, Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-Ind.) just put out his anticipated statement announcing his campaign for Indiana Senate.

"After many conversations with Hoosiers this week, and with the love and support of my family, I have decided to run for the U.S. Senate," it reads.   "The best years of my life are the more than two decades I spent in the local sheriff's department," he continues. "Sheriff is a job that comes down to protecting families from harm, helping folks solve their problems or resolve their disputes, and just being willing to put your fellow citizens' best interests ahead of your own. When I look at the U.S. Senate these days, I sure think they could use more folks with those same qualities. And that's something I hope I could bring to the U.S. Senate."    

Guess he slept on it. Rep. Brad Ellsworth, who seemed determined to be coy about his Senate aspirations just yesterday now says he is running, just as expected.

The two-term Democrat told homestate station WIFE that he will be a candidate for the Senate seat being vacated by the retirement of Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh.

The Indianapolis Star reports that state Rep. Trent VanHaaften, a Democrat, has filed to run for Ellsworth's House seat -- the succession plan our Greg Giroux foretold.

Once again, politics has thrown Democrats in Indiana an unexpected curveball. Turns out they won't be able to quickly coalesce behind a Senate candidate after all.

The Indianapolis Star reports that the party's lawyers researched state law and discovered their assumptions were wrong. They can't just call a vote of the party's state central committee and hurredly declare a nominee to replace the unexpectedly retiring Sen. Evan Bayh.

The law lets parties fill ballot vacancies, but not until after the primary -- which this year falls on May 4.

Said party Chairman Dan Parker: "The sooner rather than later has now become later."

Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-Ind.) said Thursday that he hasn't decided whether to run to succeed retiring Sen. Evan Bayh (D) even though he has emerged as his party's top candidate.

"Contrary to some media reports, I have not made a decision about whether to run for the U.S. Senate," Ellsworth said in a statement. "I am continuing to talk with my family and Hoosiers throughout Indiana about where I can best serve our state."

"Put simply, this is a decision I don't take lightly. I want to make sure whatever decision I make is the right one for my family, my constituents, and the state of Indiana," Ellsworth said. "Tomorrow, I will wrap up my annual Open Door Listening Tour, which took me through all 18-counties of the 8th District. At that point, I will have more time to devote to giving this great responsibility the serious consideration it deserves."