Indiana Dems set sights on change

Three Indiana Democrats set their sights on carrying change to Washington after helping their party take control of the U.S. House, a victory that left Rep. Pete Visclosky poised Wednesday to become chairman of a powerful appropriations subcommittee.\nRepublican Rep. Mike Pence, meanwhile, announced his bid to lead the new GOP minority with an appeal for a renewed commitment to the restrained federal spending and limited government that swept his party into power in 1994.\nVoters Tuesday returned Baron Hill to the southern Indiana seat he held for three terms through 2004 and also elected newcomers Joe Donnelly in the northern 2nd District and Brad Ellsworth in the southwestern 8th District.\nTheir victories, besides returning House control to Democrats, also gave the party a 5-4 edge in Indiana's congressional delegation.\nEllsworth, who voters elected by an overwhelming majority to defeat six-term incumbent Rep. John Hostettler, said work needs to be done immediately to dissolve a vicious partisan divide in Congress and build a consensus about Iraq.\n"Iraq is still first and foremost on everybody's mind," Ellsworth said. "I don't want to find that impossible to reach across the aisle."\nHill said voters sent a message they want a new course in Washington, with Congress providing more oversight of the Bush administration. Voters also want the two political parties to work more collegially on the war in Iraq and other challenges confronting the nation.\n"I don't believe we can leave Iraq right now, but we can't stay there indefinitely," Hill said during a news conference Wednesday at the Clark County Democratic headquarters in Jeffersonville, Ind. "And the president's message of staying the course is the wrong message because it tells the people of Iraq that we're going to be there forever."\nVisclosky stands to have a greater voice on Iraq policy as the third-ranking member of the defense appropriations subcommittee, which oversees $400 billion and 30 percent of the federal budget.\nThe Merrillville Democrat, who has co-sponsored legislation with prominent war critic Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., on drawing down troop levels in Iraq, noted Wednesday's resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and pending recommendations by a commission headed by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and former Rep. Lee Hamilton of Indiana.\n"I hope there is an opportunity here and a change is expeditiously made," Visclosky said in a telephone interview from Washington.\nVisclosky stands to become chairman of the energy and water appropriations subcommittee, which controls more than $30 billion in spending for the Energy Department and other agencies. He has used his minority seat on the subcommittee to help win $9.5 million for an ethanol plant in Rensselaer, Ind., and said the nation must invest in new energy sources to end its dependence on oil.\n"This is an urgent issue that needs to be addressed," he said.