Does Mitch Daniels' New Illiana Plan Help His Reelection Chances?

Mark Kiesling at the Northwest Indiana Times thinks that Gov. Mitch Daniels' withdrawal of the east leg of the Illiana Expressway Toll Road might win him some Northwest Indiana votes in his reelection bid:

Would that have cost him the 2008 election? The Illiana would likely not. He doesn't pull huge votes out of Northwest Indiana anyway. ...

But in what could shape up to be a close race, by killing the eastern portion of the Illiana Daniels has made a couple thousand happy folks who will remember him as the guy who stood up for the little man.

"This is a great day for democracy," said Dave Ahlberg, head of Citizens Against the Privatized Illiana Toll Road.

Daniels has won hearts and minds in the short run.

And that's all that counts when re-election is your Major Move.

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