Born in the heartland of America, Representative Mike Pence has been representing the Sixth Congressional District of eastern Indiana since 2000. His ascent in the political realm as a national spokesman for conservative principles has been noted in publications such as the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, Business Week and The Weekly Standard. In 2005, Pence was named "Man of the Year" by Human Events, a national conservative weekly.
While accolades continue to flow from conservative groups for Pence, it wasn't always so. After losing his first two attempts at congressional runs in 1988 and 1990, he found himself with a local and later statewide audience as the host of "The Mike Pence Show," a syndicated radio program. Pence would go on to also appear on a weekend political television show in Indianapolis. He jokes about his long-running radio experience "for ten years [I] did my best impersonation of Rush Limbaugh every day."
But with 2008 coming within vision, there's talk in Indiana and nationally that Mike Pence might make a good conservative candidate for the presidency. Self-described as "a Christian, a conservative and a Republican," the Congressman's appeal seems to lie with the centrists of the Republican Party. His so-called Pence Plan for immigration reform, however, has brought out criticisms from hard-liners, including Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO), Chairman of the 97-member House Immigration Reform Caucus. Despite criticism from Tancredo that Pence's plan would "start the new foreign worker program before border security is even proved effective," a look on Pence's website refutes this claim.
"Before any new temporary-worker program can begin, our plan requires the president to certify that all mandated border-security measures are completed. The Hutchison-Pence proposal embraces the tough border-security measures of the House and Senate bills. It would add border patrol agents, drug enforcement agents and port-of-entry inspectors; end catch and release; add security fences and other physical barriers at critical points; and employ American technology, such as unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles." Pence's website offers the complete plan as advocated by the Indiana congressman and co-sponsor Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX).
Strong on national defense and an advocate of limited government, Pence has often been described as a Reagan Republican. As the Congressman is fond of saying, "Every time I heard Ronald Reagan speak ...... he always, invariably brought up the indelicate matter of core values. Whatever venue he was in front of he demonstrated, maybe with just a single line, the courage of his convictions."
Indiana Congressman Mike Pence is certainly someone to look hard at -- now and in 2008.
