•IN-Gov: Well, this would be fascinating. Bill Oesterle, a Republican who managed Mitch Daniels' first campaign for governor in 2004, just stepped down as CEO of the review website Angie's List—and he says he may primary the guy who succeeded Daniels, Gov. Mike Pence. When Pence bungled his way through the debacle over Indiana's new "Religious Freedom Restoration Act," Oesterle was one of his fiercest critics, and not merely in word but in deed. As a result of the law, Oesterle cancelled a $40 million expansion of his company's headquarters in Indianapolis, saying RFRA would hurt Angie's List's ability to recruit talented workers.
While primary challenges from the left virtually never succeed in GOP circles, this situation is different. A, if not the, major reason the opposition to RFRA grew so white-hot was because corporate America rose up in arms against it. It's extremely rare to see a Republican office-holder wind up on the opposite side of big business, and it's why Pence was forced into a humiliating climb-down that ended with the legislature amending the law to excise its worst aspects.
But it didn't undo the terrible damage already done to Indiana's reputation; indeed, the state just hired a PR firm to try to patch up its tattered image. Some clever "rebranding" is not going to cut it, though, and that gives Oesterle a big opening. If business interests decide they'd rather have a more reliable governor in charge—one who won't cater to religious fanatics—then Pence could find himself in a world of trouble.