Jill Long-Thompson, Party Leaders Call for Change in Indiana

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: May 14, 2008
LONG THOMPSON, PARTY LEADERS CALL

FOR CHANGE IN INDIANA

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - In another sign of the growing solidarity of the Democratic Party, today state and local party leaders joined gubernatorial nominee Jill Long Thompson in calling for real change in Indiana.

In a news conference at the Indiana Statehouse on Wednesday, Indiana House Speaker B. Patrick Bauer (D-South Bend), Senate Democrat Leader Richard Young (D-Milltown), State Party Chair Dan Parker and several other state legislators, Marion County elected officials and party leaders pledged their support to Long Thompson's candidacy.

"After four years of the misguided policies of the Daniels administration, Hoosiers want new leadership and a new direction for our state - and with Jill leading the ticket that's what Democrats will bring this fall," said Bauer, who spoke on behalf of the members of the House Democratic Caucus.

"Our party is energized like never before and we are ready to do everything we can to help elect Jill Long Thompson Governor and get Indiana moving again."

A former college professor, city councilwoman, Congresswoman and Under Secretary for Rural Development at the United States Department of Agriculture, Long Thompson is the first woman in the state's history to secure the gubernatorial nomination of either political party.

"We are thrilled to have Jill Long Thompson as the standard bearer of our party because we know that she will stand up and fight for the working people of this state," said Young, who represented his colleagues in the State Senate Democratic Caucus. "Jill has the right kind of experience and vision to put Indiana back on track."

Long Thompson will continue to travel the state in the coming days meeting with party leaders and organizing her statewide campaign.

"I am honored to have secured the nomination of this party and to have the full backing of its leadership," said Long Thompson. "Indiana Democrats have an historic opportunity this fall to not only expand our party and win races up and down the ballot, but to chart a new course for Indiana - and by working together that's what we will do."

Long Thompson represented Northeast Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives serving from 1989 to 1995. She also served as U.S. Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development from 1995 to 2001. She received her B.S. in Business from Valparaiso University and her M.B.A. and Ph.D. in Business from Indiana University. A former educator, Long Thompson most recently served as CEO of The National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy. Long Thompson and her husband Don Thompson, a commercial airline pilot, live on their family farm in Marshall County.

For more information about Jill Long Thompson or her campaign, please visit www.hoosiersforjill.com



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Paid for and authorized by Hoosiers for Jill Long Thompson, Gary Calhoun, Treasurer