Republican Mike Sodrel has decided to enter Indiana's 9th District congressional race, so there'll be a fifth straight matchup between Sodrel and incumbent Democrat Baron Hill. Hill is up 3-1 in the first four races, and in his favor this time is the fact that President Obama carried Indiana for the first time since LBJ. But Obama's numbers are slidding, and his agenda has become more unpopular here, so maybe that gives Sodreal a good chance. According to the politics and government blog of The New York Times:
So if Mr. Hill ultimately faces an extraordinary fifth showdown with Mr. Sodrel, the outcome will become at least a partial referendum on the president. It may also offer an early sign of Mr. Obama's own political strength and his prospects for once again carrying Indiana, a state that he has often said was his favorite red-to-blue story of the 2008 campaign.
But there's a chance we're going to see "an early sign of Mr. Obama's own political strength" a lot sooner than that. Even if Democrat Martha Coakley holds on to win the special election in Massachusettes, the fact that there is even speculation that Republican Scott Brown has a chance at Teddy Kennedy's that seat is
