Now that the dust has settled over the running mate choices on the Republican and Democrat side in the race for governor, it should be noted the differing response given to each announcement by the parties.
It took only about 10 minutes after Republican Congressman Mike Pence named Rep. Sue Ellspermann, R-Ferdinand, as his pick for lieutenant governor Monday before Democrat John Gregg attacked her.
A release sent shortly after the announcement termed Pence and Ellspermann as the Tea Party Ticket, and said Ellspermann has spent time pushing divisive social issues such as defunding Planned Parenthood in the House.
Then an hour later the Indiana Democratic Party sent out a release asking Ellspermann who she voted for in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary. (Ellspermann was almost kicked off the ballot in 2010 for mistakenly saying she voted in the Republican primary in 2008 on her candidacy form, and had to admit she crossed over.)
Fast forward to 24 hours later when Gregg announced Sen. Vi Simpson, D-Bloomington, and the silence from the GOP was deafening.
No snarky email releases, just a solo tweet welcoming Simpson to the race.
Reporters did ask Simpson whether she has ever voted in a Republican primary, by the way, and her response was "No but I do believe in a person's right to choose."
To contact Niki Kelly email her at nkelly@jg.net or follow her on Twitter @nkellyatJG.
