Democrats enjoy record attendance at Third District Dinner Saturday night
(Talk of the Town photo by Charlotte Weybright) Above, Scott Allison, center, stands with US Senate candidate Brad Ellsworth and Secretary of State candidate Tom McKenna on Saturday night during the Third District Democrats Dinner.
By Jennifer Zartman Romano
A greater level of Democratic enthusiasm likely has not been seen in Whitley County before -- and Saturday's Third District Democrats Dinner confirmed it.
A record attendance of nearly 400 filled all available seats at the Eagles Nest Event Center -- many eager to hear from Brad Ellsworth, the southern Indiana candidate considered most likely to get the Democratic nomination to run for Evan Bayh's seat in the US Senate.
"The turnout was fantastic," said Whitley County Democratic Party chairman Scott Allison on Sunday. "Usually during a midterm election year the attendance drops. What we saw last night was that the Democratic Party is energized and wants to continue the momentum that started in the 2006 elections and carried through the 2008 elections."
"We are the majority party and want that to continue," Allison continued. "It is extremely important that Democrats turn out to vote this year. At the Federal level, President Obama needs the Democrats to keep the majority in congress in order to be able to keep working on the mess he inherited. At the State level, we have to hold the house to try to keep our Governor in check."
If the level of applause and loud discussion was any indication, Allison is not alone in his enthusiasm for the Democratic candidates or their representatives who spoke Saturday night.
"We have some really exciting candidates in Brad Ellsworth, Tom Hayhurst, Tom McKenna, Vop Osili, Sam Locke and Pete Buttigieg," Allison said.