The hard work begins now.

Come join John Barnes for a bite to eat at the Tie Dye grill. We will have the restaurant to ourselves for a few hours, giving you the perfect chance to get to know the Democratic candidate for Indiana House District 89! John wants to meet each and every one of you so that he can better represent your interests at the state level. Don’t miss this opportunity to get to know your future representative!

They’ve set up an Evite RSVP for the event; make sure to get on board early.

Nels Ackerson and Steve Buyer debate, live online 7pm EST: http://snurl.com/3ksfb I hear Nels has a kick ass website!

Indiana Senator Evan Bayh is scheduled to make his first appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

The show broadcast on Comedy Central says the Democratic senator will appear on the show Thursday night.

It’s Bayh’s first appearance on the show and it comes a day after he addressed the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

I’m interested to see how this plays out. Expect Stewart to try and use his undying support of Clinton and his DLC (see also: centerist) credentials to drive the conversation.

Failure at some point in everyone’s life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable. As a child I stuttered, and she lovingly told me it was because I was so bright I couldn’t get the thoughts out quickly enough. When I was not as well dressed as others, she told me how handsome she thought I was. When I got knocked down by guys bigger than me, she sent me back out and demanded that I bloody their nose so I could walk down that street the next day. (iMediaPress via C-SPAN)

This isn’t just rhetoric - this is Joe. And, I’d say, this is me, too. I am not the careful, quiet kind of Liberal and I’m really tired of the “wussification” of the modern Liberal.

One can evoke toughness, respect, and love with the same heart.

When I first started Liberal Indiana in 2003(ish), it was with no real plan other than to provide a liberal opinion about the goings-on in Indiana. This was before Taking Down Words and the birth of Blue Indiana, before most other Hoosier Libs started writing on a regular basis.

Almost two years ago, I had a bright idea: transform Liberal Indiana into a blogging community, open it up to liberal bloggers from across the state.

That idea proved to be the downfall of Liberal Indiana. The software wasn’t ready for prime time, no one but Russian or African spammers were adding content, and as I quickly figured out, I was just plain not prepared to manage the amount of spam and technical problems that would come from my creation. It was doomed to fail.

So here I am again, back to basics. It is my intention to use the new Liberal Indiana to not only share my opinions about what’s going on in our state and our country, but also to cover the activities of Liberal organizations in the central Indiana area. If I stick to these simple things, I have a feeling Liberal Indiana will be back for good.