Fair Enough...

I spent last week campaigning at the Mooreland Fair. I've been attending the fair for 58 years. I don't think I ever attended one that was as hot as this one. Mooreland isn't a very big town, but they put on a heck of a fair every year. It's kind of a big homecoming and getting reacquainted event for thousands of people.

Having a booth at the fair, I get to visit a lot of people I've known all of my life, but usually don't see until the fair. I also get to meet and visit with people i didn't know before. I was especially happy that my old buddy Stinky Wilmont stopped by and agreed to have his picture taken with me: That's Stinky on the right. Hopefully it will satisfy those who have questioned Stinky's existence.

I had some help from four of my grandchildren who handed out "Elect Rex Bell" stickers, and then took a break for some rides:

Henry County candidates Jon Bell and Bill Claar helped out at the booth, along with the Libertarian Secretary of State candidate Mike Wherry:

I was encouraged by the number of positive comments I received about the campaign, and especially those from elected Republicans.

I was a little discouraged by person who walked around the crowded fair in the 95 degree heat and complained that he wasn't receiving enough disability assistance to take care of his kids.

And I was mildly amused to see that not one candidate over at the Democrat Party booth had any kind of word or symbol on their yard signs identifying themselves as a Democrat.

And what would the Mooreland Fair be without a Grand Finale parade! We handed out about 20 pounds of melted Tootsie Rolls:

I hope all of our campaign events are as much fun as the Mooreland Fair. I also hope they're not as hot.

And then there were two...

I'm running for the Indiana House of Representatives District 54 seat this year. It's the same seat I ran for in 2006. I learned earlier this week that the only candidates in the race are myself and Republican incumbent Tom Saunders.

In 2006, it was a three-way race, with Democrat David Sadler joining in. In that three-way race, I was able to win 6 precincts, and finish second in three others. I recieved 22% of the vote in Wayne County, and 14 1/2 % of the vote district wide.

Tom won with 46%.

Now, I'm not pretending that the 54% that didn't push the Republican button last time will vote for me this time. But hopefully, some of them will. And also, hopefully some of that 46% that did push the Republican button last time will decide that their property taxes didn't go down while their sales taxes went up, and maybe some of them will be ready for a change.

Tom's campaign out spent my campaign by $190,000.00 the last time out. I have no doubt he will outspend me by a lot this time, too.

While I don't have as much money, I do have some better ideas at www.electRexBell.com .

And this year, it's just the two of us.