BRIAN HOWEY: Buck stops squarely in Oval Office

Mr. President, the buck stops with you.

BRIAN HOWEY: Shrewd Doc Bowen on health insurance

Perhaps the most inspiring part of Otis Bowen’s legacy is that between 1946 and 1972 he delivered 3,000 Hoosier babies when he was the small town family physician in Bremen. The future Indiana governor would say that having his hands on so many emerging lives taught him “how to approach emer…

BRIAN HOWEY: Tax cuts amid 8.7% jobless rate

Other issues had potentially greater financial impact or will leave a more resolute imprint on people’s lives, such as Medicaid expansion and Common Core education standards.

BRIAN HOWEY: 83 percent of Hoosiers support gun background checks

There’s always something in Howey Politics Indiana polling that raises at least one eyebrow, and sometimes both.

BRIAN HOWEY: Terror returns to American homeland

“Brian, we’re going to get hit again. It’s going to happen. I just hope when it happens, I’m not in Washington.”

BRIAN HOWEY: Use common sense with guns

For the life of me, I don’t see how expanded background checks for gun purchases is an assault on the 2nd Amendment. Yet that is the phrase we hear over and over from the Indiana congressional delegation.

BRIAN HOWEY: Legislator turned governor focused on tax cut

The headline fixation in the fledgling administration of Gov. Mike Pence has been his 10 percent income tax cut. It is what Chief of Staff Bill Smith calls, “the shiny object” and one that Senate Appropriations Chairman Luke Kenley partially restored on Thursday at 3.3 percent after it didn’…

BRIAN HOWEY: Political gun battle comes to Indiana

Four months after the horrific Newtown massacre and five months after Indiana witnessed a $51 million U.S. Senate race, the political TV ads have returned.

BRIAN HOWEY: Indiana, the methamphetamine state

Welcome to Indiana, the Methamphetamine State.

BRIAN HOWEY: Clowning around with Chocola, Mourdock

Chris Chocola is not a clown.

BRIAN HOWEY: Transvaginal ultrasound is transducer for masses

Amidst all the ribald humor, the yuks, and even “Pope LaMarr I” at the Gridiron Dinner the other night, something leaped off the gigantic video screen in the Indiana Roof Ballroom.

BRIAN HOWEY: Medicaid ideology, elusive answers

After listening to Gov. Mike Pence and legislative leaders at the calendar halfway point of the Indiana General Assembly, one thing is clear: We have a lot of ideology and lack a lot of metrics and answers.

BRIAN HOWEY: Move up Indiana's primary election

In April 2008, Hillary Clinton made a campaign appearance at the Wigwam in Anderson. About two hours before she took the stage, a huge line of thousands of people encircled the historic basketball gym, waiting to get in.

BRIAN HOWEY: Will Indiana turn its back on the working poor?

INDIANAPOLIS | How is Indiana going to ensure health insurance to the “working poor?”

BRIAN HOWEY: It's time to explore new maps for competitive Hoosier political districts

INDIANAPOLIS | The first actual election results of the new Indiana Congressional and legislative maps drawn in 2011 are in, and the results still reveal a flawed process.

BRIAN HOWEY: Pro life movement an Indiana political juggernaut

INDIANAPOLIS | In the past 40 years, there have been 55 million abortions in the United States. With Indiana at 2.1 percent of the U.S. population, the math produces a startling statistic: Approximately 1 million Hoosiers didn’t make it into the population.

BRIAN HOWEY: Obama, a warrior into the whirlwind

A little over a week before the New York Times’ Page 1 banner headline would proclaim - “Obama offers liberal vision: ‘We Must Act’" - an acknowledgement of sorts came forth.

BRIAN HOWEY: Inaugural challenges for Gov. Pence

All of the pomp, optimism, sunshine and prose was just exactly as it should have been as Gov. Mike Pence became the 12th Indiana congressman to ascend to the state’s top executive position and the first in more than a century to do so.

BRIAN HOWEY: Pence comes to office with humility, open door

Just minutes after he sat down in my office on Wednesday to talk about his incoming administration, Gov.-elect Mike Pence hit on the very subject I had been thinking about.

BRIAN HOWEY: Congressional ideology doesn’t put pork on grill

On New Year's Day, Indiana's four freshman members of the U.S. House voted against the so-called fiscal cliff deal. If the deal hadn't passed — and it did by a 257 to 167 margin — most middle class families would have seen their taxes go up somewhere in the $2,000- to $3,000-a-year range.

BRIAN HOWEY: Valuable state debates need some tweaking

Hoosier voters are extremely fortunate. It may seem like a very minor point, but we have the Indiana Debate Commission, a group of journalists and academics that formed in 2007 to provide a fitting forum for decision making in gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races.

BRIAN HOWEY: Daniels era has obliterated Indiana Democrats

From a political perspective, the decade-long "Mitch Daniels era" has been devastating for Indiana Democrats.

BRIAN HOWEY: An era ends as Lugar, Daniels move on

The next four weeks end an epic era – two for that matter – in Indiana politics as U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar and Gov. Mitch Daniels prepare to leave elective office for what they say will be the final time.

BRIAN HOWEY: Young, Stutzman restore Hoosier clout on Capitol Hill

The Indiana congressional delegation has been bleeding seniority, a coveted asset in Capitol Hill.

BRIAN HOWEY: Missing the indispensable Republican man

President Barack Obama’s re-election victory has been sliced and dissected relentlessly since Nov. 6, and as I analyzed earlier, part of it came down to the “female vote” and another centered on the various Republican demographic and personality dilemmas.

BRIAN HOWEY: How Glenda Ritz brought down Supt. Goliath

There were rumblings this summer and fall that Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett might have a race on his hand.

BRIAN HOWEY: Mourdock's collateral damage to GOP

It was fascinating – stunning, really – to watch Indiana Republican primary voters dump U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar overboard last May.

BRIAN HOWEY: Positives, negatives of campaign 2012

On Election Day, as I headed to my office to watch the returns, I stopped to pick up some Chinese carryout.

BRIAN HOWEY: An unprecedented pro-life power alignment with Pence

For evangelical Republicans, the apex of political power and influence is within their grasp.

BRIAN HOWEY: Mourdock's words poised to defeat him

In the press filing room at Indiana University Southeast, the U.S. Senate debate was heading into the 45-minute mark, the candidates had been asked about abortion, and Republican nominee Richard Mourdock was speaking. In my estimation, he was winning this debate, pushing Democrat Joe Donnell…

BRIAN HOWEY: The attempted sale of Indiana’s Senate seat

In a U.S. Senate race engulfed by obfuscated national special interest money, Democrat Joe Donnelly charged that the seat is being “sold.”

BRIAN HOWEY: Election consequences for Nunn-Lugar

Two elections this year are already yielding global change. The first occurred last March, when Vladimir Putin was returned to the Russian presidency. The second came two months later, when Hoosier Republican voters tossed out U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar in favor of Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock.

BRIAN HOWEY: The curious campaign of John Gregg

We've never quite seen a gubernatorial campaign like John Gregg's.

BRIAN HOWEY: Deja vu in the Indiana Senate race

With Colorado, Delaware and Nevada nagging reminders of how a Tea Party candidate can botch a Senate race -- and a potential majority, which happened in 2010 -- Indiana Republicans remain in danger of losing a Senate seat.

BRIAN HOWEY: Cat and mouse with Pence on his moral agenda

The cat and mouse game of Mike Pence and the "moral" issues that have been a virtual trademark of his meteoric political career are now beginning to come forward in his gubernatorial campaign against Democrat John Gregg.

BRIAN HOWEY: Mourdock trying to soften stance against compromise

It is admirable when a politician or officeholder finds or is confronted with new information that prompts a shift in position.

BRIAN HOWEY: Nation's house is divided over politics in 2012

I've heard this story over and over again from relatives, friends, even the Sears salesman, and I've experienced it myself: Because of the polarized nature of today's politics, old friendships are ending.

BRIAN HOWEY: Gregg, Pence offer ‘clear choice’ over Obamacare

We are witnessing perhaps the most vivid contrast between gubernatorial candidates Mike Pence and John Gregg coming with the politically explosive issue of Obamacare.

BRIAN HOWEY: Independent voters will decide Donnelly/Mourdock race

The increasingly competitive Indiana U.S. Senate race will see more national money pouring in. The Majority PAC, a Democratic super 527 group, made a $500,000 TV ad buy on behalf of Democratic nominee Joe Donnelly last week.

BRIAN HOWEY: Ryan’s ‘Danielspeak’ critical to the presidential race

If you are an American – whether a Republican, Democrat or independent – Mitt Romney’s selection of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan to the ticket is the best thing that could have happened in this critical campaign.

BRIAN HOWEY: Mourdock and his post-primary 'betrayal' letter

ZIONSVILLE, Ind. – In my three decades of covering Indiana politics, I have never seen anything quite like Richard Mourdock’s U.S. Senate campaign.

BRIAN HOWEY: Napoleonic Bauer is dethroned -- for now

INDIANAPOLIS | You remember Napoleon? The tyrant who invaded nations, installed relatives as kings, marched a million men into Russia and came back with a few thousand. He was exiled to an island, made his escape, raised an army and returned to power — only to be routed at Waterloo.

BRIAN HOWEY: Pence’s ‘good cop/bad cop’ strategy

It had been nine years since Mike Pence had run and brawled for a congressional seat, twice unsuccessfully challenging U.S. Rep. Phil Sharp.

BRIAN HOWEY: Bauersaurus is vulnerable to attack now

When I was a high school page for House Speaker Kermit Burrous back in the early 1970s, I remember standing at the speaker’s podium for a photo with him, and looking out across the House chambers as members gathered for the session. I saw Jeff Espich and, of course, the little giant, the mar…

BRIAN HOWEY: Daniels at Purdue raises questions

At the advent of Mitch Daniels' governorship, a close ally of his told me the new governor always had a long-range plan. Actually, the Daniels governorship was scripted in advance.

An ironic twist in Obamacare battle

INDIANAPOLIS | When Long Beach, Ind., native John G. Roberts was up for confirmation to become U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice, he did not get the vote of then U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.

BRIAN HOWEY: What is the agenda for rightward marching GOP?

FORT WAYNE | Once again, Republican U.S. Senate nominee Richard Mourdock appeared with a fellow Republican who vouched for the candidate as being from the "mainstream" of the Indiana Republican Party.

BRIAN HOWEY: By any measure, our leaders are failing us

We live in in perhaps the wealthiest and most influential country in the history of civilization.

BRIAN HOWEY: Mourdock will use Obamacare against Donnelly

While Indiana Democrats are preparing to engage Republican U.S. Senate nominee Richard Mourdock on the Chrysler rescue and jobs, the Republican will attack Democratic nominee Joe Donnelly on the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare."

BRIAN HOWEY: Indiana Democrats play the Mourdock/Chrysler card

There was a reason Indiana Democrats jumped in bed with Richard Mourdock en route to his stunning 61 percent to 39 percent upset of U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar on May 8. They were salivating over playing the "Chrysler" card.