Gregg, a former speaker of the state House of Representatives and president of Vincennes University, spoke to a fundraising gathering of 35 people Wednesday at the Cafe 166 Cakery and Deli. Current and former Morgan County Democratic Party officials, Gregg supporters and state Rep. Peggy Welch were among those in attendance.

In the fall election, Gregg is facing U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, a Republican, along with Libertarian Rupert Boneham and two write-in candidates.

“I’m running against a guy (Pence) who is so out of touch with Indiana,” Gregg said.

The Democratic candidate said that, when Congress was considering whether to invest in the then-struggling Chrysler and General Motors, Pence “said ‘No, let the free market decide it.’ ... Folks, there ain’t nothing free and fair about free and fair trade.”

Without Congress’ actions to invest in those companies, thousands of jobs would have been lost.

Gregg, a right-to-life Democrat, said Pence was willing to shut down the federal government because of his opposition to funding for Planned Parenthood even though the funding couldn’t be used for abortions.

Government needs to quit fighting over social issues and work on the issue that nearly all Hoosiers want to see addressed: Creating more and better paying jobs, Gregg said.

“All people want to talk about is jobs,” Gregg said. “Worrying about the next election and running for office doesn’t get it. We need to be worried about the next generation.”

This election, Gregg said, presents a great opportunity with the wide base of the Democrats and the increasingly narrow viewpoint of Republican candidates.

Gregg said he needed those present to serve as ambassadors for his candidacy. Even if he sees 1,000 voters each day, that would mean he’d only be able to contact 160,000 voters before Election Day, he said.

Many Republicans, including those who had supported U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, have been alienated by their party’s candidates’ anti-labor positions and attacks on teachers, Gregg said. Lugar lost his bid for another term when he was defeated in the Republican primary by state Treasurer Richard Mourdock.

“The extremists turned him (Lugar) out,” Gregg said. “Those Lugar supporters are the key to our victory.”

Gregg has selected state Sen. Vi Simpson of Bloomington to run as lieutenant governor. He said he picked her because of her passion for job creation, is a public servant at heart who understands state government, doesn’t want to demonize teachers and because she would bring a different perspective to issues.

“I didn’t want a cookie cutter of me,” he said.