Another Anti-War Conservative

James Antle takes a look at John Hostettler, the former Indiana congressman and Iraq War opponent, who hopes to challenge the centrist Democrat Evan Bayh in  this year's Senate race. The race should be interesting, especially since Rep. Mike Pence, a pro-war Republican with national popularity, has declined to run, making Hostettler, at least for now, the apparent front-runner for the Republican nomination. Writes Antle:

There are reasons the National Republican Senatorial Committee preferred Pence to Hostettler. Bayh was re-elected with 62 percent of the vote in 2004; Hostettler lost his House seat, drawing just 39 percent, in 2006. Hostettler's independence from the party line makes him unpredictable -- he was one of just six Republicans in the House to vote against authorizing the war in Iraq -- and his refusal to take political action committee money frequently causes him to fare poorly at fundraising. Bayh is sitting on a $12.7 million war chest.