INDIANAPOLIS, July 21 (UPI) -- Indiana Gov. Joseph Kernan plans to skip next week's Democratic National Convention in Boston to stay home and campaign for the November election.
Kernan, who is running for his first full-term, succeeded late Gov. Frank O'Bannon, who died in 2003 after suffering a stroke in Chicago. Kernan will be the first Indiana governor not to attend a national convention in nearly 25 years, the Indianapolis Star said.
Kernan will march in a Puerto Rican Parade Sunday, the day the state delegation arrives in Boston. Lt. Gov. Kathy Davis will lead Indiana's delegation.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Mitch Daniels, a former White House budget director, plans to attend the GOP National Convention at New York's Madison Square Garden -- but for only one day.
"Their time is better spent, unless they're raising money, trying to court voters," former state Republican Party Chairman Mike McDaniel told the Star.
