This Is His Country?

Mike Leonard of The Herald-Times in Bloomington, Indiana, is a columnist and reporter who has followed singer John Mellencamp's rise from smart-aleck kid rocker to local boy spokesman for causes such as poor farmers.

He penned a column on CNN.com that seeks to prove the case that Mellencamp, left, could be the man to replace retiring Indiana senator Evan Bayh. -- Joe Strupp