Minutes into her stump speech, Jill Long Thompson reveals a revelation.

"When I got in this race a year ago, I talked to many of you about how my mission was to regrow Indiana's economy," the Democratic nominee for governor told an audience of hard-core Democrats and senior citizens last week in Monticello, Ind.

"I think my mission has changed," Long Thompson continued. "I am running now for governor to be a partner in change with the next president of the United States, Senator Barack Obama. And boy do we need change."

The former congresswoman went on to link her opponent, Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, to the woes of President Bush -- the sliding economy, ballooning federal deficit, even the levees that failed to protect New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina. She laid it all at the feet of Daniels, who stepped down as Bush's federal budget director in 2003 to make his initial run for governor.

Winds of change

It's clear Long Thompson, whose political career began two decades ago on the Valparaiso City Council, hopes to ride the Democratic gale blowing toward the White House. Gary Mayor Rudy Clay, the Lake County Democratic chairman, acknowledged as much last week when he introduced Long Thompson at a fundraiser in Highland.

"You know her name now is Punch 10, " Clay said, referencing the ballot instructions for voting a straight Democratic ticket.

Long Thompson, who lives on a farm in Marshall County, emerged from a bitter May primary battle, a race which her Democratic opponent complained was overshadowed by the bout between Obama and Hillary Clinton. Obama's campaign since has registered thousands of Indiana voters and poured unprecedented resources into the state, efforts Hoosier Democrats hope will lift their sails as well.

"I've never been in a campaign before when the wind was at my back," Long Thompson said. "And that still doesn't guarantee a victory."

Long Thompson's five years representing northeast Indiana in Congress came to an end with the 1994 surge that swept Republicans into power. She's earned a reputation as a tough campaigner, and her harsh criticism of Daniels has drawn repeated rebukes from the state GOP.

"I think there's a difference between going negative and talking honestly about the issues," she said in an interview on the bus her campaign rented for a 10-day, 61-stop pre-election tour of the state. "I have talked very honestly about the issues. (Daniels') party in fact has been very negative going after Barack Obama, which of course is aimed at cutting votes for me as well."

Talking points

For Long Thompson, talking about the issues mostly means criticizing the Republican governor's penchant for privatization and drawing attention to the worsening economy. She says Indiana has lost 64,000 jobs in the past year, a figure arrived at by comparing federal unemployment figures for August with that of a year prior.

But the universally accepted method for measuring job losses or gains is to compare federal employment figures. Those numbers show Indiana had about 23,500 fewer jobs in August than a year earlier but still nearly 38,000 more than when Daniels took office in 2005.

Long Thompson, who after leaving Congress served six years as an undersecretary for rural development at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has proposed a three-tiered incentive program offering tax credits of up to $3,500 per job to employers who locate in counties in which unemployment is high and personal incomes are low. The bounty would be only $1,000 per job in counties that pace the state economy. And Long Thompson acknowledges the proposal may need to be tweaked so that a company coming to Crown Point, for instance, wouldn't be eligible for the same benefit as a firm locating in Gary.

On the issue of outsourcing, Daniels' 75-year, $3.8 billion lease of the Indiana Toll Road to a foreign consortium has come to symbolize what Long Thompson calls "privatization madness."

That rhetoric resonates with Don Fellmy, a highway maintenance worker for the Indiana Department of Transportation. He attended a Long Thompson rally last week at the Jasper County Democratic Party headquarters in Rensselaer.

"He wants to sell everything off," Fellmy said of the Republican governor. "He actually hasn't privatized INDOT yet, but there's rumors."

Union of support

Long Thompson, who counts the United Steelworkers among her most loyal supporters, has pledged to restore the collective bargaining rights for state employees that Daniels rescinded shortly after taking office.

Charles Scott, a retired steelworker from Wheatfield, said he plans to vote for Long Thompson for governor and Republican John McCain for president, explaining that he doesn't believe Obama has enough experience. As for Long Thompson, Scott said he worries she doesn't have enough money to match the television ad blitz Daniels has sustained since March.

The incumbent governor has raised more than $15 million, compared to $4.5 million for Long Thompson, who went back on the air late last month after a six-week hiatus.

"I always knew that he would have more available money than me," Long Thompson said. "I also knew that it would not make sense for my campaign to get in an ad war with him because he would have so much more resources."

Poll position

Polls sponsored by Indiana media outlets put Long Thompson within five points of Daniels in September. But surveys released last week by the Indianapolis Star and a Fort Wayne university suggest the incumbent governor has extended his lead to 17 or 18 points. Daniels argues that the "straight-party blind loyalty" Clay and other Lake County Democrats are pushing won't wash with most voters.

But in an election season in which "hope" and "change" are dominating the lexicon, Long Thompson isn't backing down.

"I think I'm going to win," she has said on more than one occasion.

Long Thompson planned to take a break from her bus tour Friday night to fly to Highland for an Obama rally. That pairing could make all the difference on Election Day.