Puckett takes aim at Donnelly

by Carla Knapp
Pharos-Tribune associate editor

May 12, 2008 02:48 pm

— Republican 2nd District congressional candidate Luke Puckett seemed to spend much of the primary campaign season responding to the statements and actions of fellow candidate Tony Zirkle.
Over the months, members from the two political camps had some pointed exchanges and Puckett repeatedly refused debate offers from Zirkle, saying he wanted to distance himself from Zirkle’s “antics.” Puckett was also vocal in condemning many of Zirkle’s actions, including his appearance at a Nazi event held in Chicago to celebrate the anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s birthday.
With last week’s victory, Puckett was able to shake off the often negative moments from the primary, but he immediately set the stage for a race to November’s general election filled with more of the same.
“Tony Zirkle’s comments about segregation and his appearance at a Nazi rally were certainly unfortunate events, and I do not regret condemning his actions,” Puckett said in an e-mailed statement. “However, this race will not be defined by Tony Zirkle, this race will be defined by the differences between my approach to the issues, and Joe Donnelly’s approach to the issues.”
In post-election comments, Puckett said he would go after the Democratic incumbent and was “not going to hold any punches.”
Puckett, who has repeatedly said he wants to steer away from politics as usual, went on to attack Donnelly’s energy policy, health care plan and many other aspects of the congressman’s two-year tenure.
Donnelly’s camp expressed some disappointment that the campaign was taking a negative turn so early.
“It is unfortunate that our opponent has already announced his intention to run a negative campaign,” Andrew Lattanner, campaign manager for Joe Donnelly for Congress, said in an e-mailed statement. “... Even politics as usual would dictate waiting some time before going negative. In this case, Luke Puckett didn’t even wait for all the votes to be counted before he started his attack.”
When the votes were tallied, they showed that Puckett has some work to do if he hopes to contend with Donnelly in November.
The Goshen businessman didn’t have a particularly strong showing in this area, as he was bested by fellow Republican Joseph Roush in Cass, Carroll and White counties.
Cass County Republican Party Chairman Dave Arnold said he was somewhat surprised by the vote totals for Puckett, who has made numerous appearances in the county.
“I think Luke worked hard to get the nomination,” said Arnold.
Puckett finished third in Howard County behind Roush and Zirkle, and in Porter County, he even trailed John Frame, a candidate who dropped out of the contest midway through the primary season.
But Puckett earned strong majorities in St. Joseph and Elkhart counties to pick up the nomination. Overall, Puckett won 48 percent of the vote (17,366) in the district. However, his failure to win over a majority of Republican voters showed a potential hole that Puckett’s campaign will try to sew up before November.
Donnelly, who ran unopposed on the Democratic ticket and secured 84,914 votes, referred to Puckett’s post-election comments as a way to get attention. Puckett responded that he was merely trying to draw attention to the issues.
In Puckett’s post-election statements, he also suggested that Donnelly meet him and a media contingent in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge this summer to explain why he felt it would not be suitable to drill for oil there.
“As I travel around the district, I talk to people and I learn about the issues that are important to them,” said Puckett. “The things that I’ve talked about in the wake of the primary are the same things that the citizens of the 2nd District are talking about. I am trying to draw attention to these issues, and I hope that Joe Donnelly will pay attention to the concerns of his constituents.”
Donnelly, who said drilling in ANWR could be a viable option, declined the invitation, saying he’d be in Washington doing his job.
“The truth is, Joe Donnelly isn’t interested in the partisan politics or political stunts whether they are out in Washington or here in the district,” said Lattanner. “He knows that there are good ideas on both sides of the aisle, and his job is to find the balance and do what’s right for working families.”
Carla Knapp can be contacted at (574) 732-5150 or via e-mail at carla.knapp@pharostribune.com