Indian Hill turning blue? (Part 2)

Well, not blue, exactly. Purple. Reddish purple. Magenta, maybe.

But, in the past several months, Indian Hill - the Bush family's home away from home - has seen the formation of its own Democratic club, complete with a ward chair and precinct executives for each of the village's seven precincts. Not many suburban Hamilton County communities have a full set of Democratic precinct executives.

Much of this is due to Marilyn Hyland, the former Democratic candidate for Hamilton County commissioner, who took it upon herself last fall to form the Indian Hill Democratic Club, volunteering to be the ward chair.

Last fall, an initial meeting of the organization drew well over 100 Indian Hill Democrats; and the club will meet again from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday at the Livingston Lodge, 9350 Given Rd. The featured speaker for this event - which Hyland emphasizes is open to all, not just Indian Hill Democrats - is former Ohio governor and Cincinnati school board member John Gilligan, who will hold forth on the 2006 election results and gaze into his crystal ball on the 2008 election.

Meanwhile, Tuesday night, Barbara Gould, who has become one of the Ohio Democratic Party's most reliable fundraisers, hosted Gov. Ted Strickland and Ohio Democratic chairman Chris Redfern at her Indian Hill home for a big state party fundraising event.

But before we get carried away with this Democratic rival in Carl Lindner's back yard, it is worth nothing that Democrats are still outnumbered in Indian Hill. Last November, Strickland took only 31 percent of the vote in the governor's race. David Pepper did somewhat better, taking 39 percent in his successful campaign to knock off Phil Heimlich. Victoria Wulsin, the Indian Hill Democrat who ran against Jean Schmidt in the 2nd Congressional District, also ended up with 39 percent of the Indian Hill vote.

But, in last year's primary, about 400 Indian Hill voters took Democratic ballots - about four times as many as there were only a few years ago.

Got to start somewhere.