for Governor of Indiana. At the same convention, by Gates' design, Homer E. Capehart and William E. Jenner were nominated to run for the U.S. House of Representatives and the United States Senate respectively. The three men were deeply conservative, but Jenners was the most "rigidly ideological" of the three, leading to growing differences between him and Gates. Jenners gave the keynote address at the convention which set the tone for the campaign. He attacked President Franklin Roosevelt and the national Democratic Party for their failures during the Great Depression and their domination of both the state and federal government, but urged the party to support the ongoing World War II war effort. Gates supported Jenners' position, and in his speech attacked the state Democratic Party, calling them puppets of the Roosevelt administration claiming they took their orders from Washington and not citizens of Indiana. After the convention Gates returned home where a parade had been organized in his honor in Columbia City. He launched his campaign after the parade and began traveling around the state to stump. He spent considerable time in traditionally Democratic southern Indiana in hopes that he could win over their support. In all of his speeches he used the term "a local problem can best be solved by local government." He also continued to charge that leadership of the state had been abandoned to federal government and that Republicans could remedy the situation. Gates and his Democratic opponent, Samuel D. Jackson, did not hold any debates or travel to make joint appearances. The Republican party platform paid off and Gates defeated Jackson by more than 46,000 votes. Republicans also took a large two-thirds majorities in both houses of the Indiana General Assembly. Promoting economic growth In Gates inaugural address he called on each branch of the government to do its job and not to interfere with the other branches. He promised not to abuse the executive authority, and the speech successfully ended what had become a fifteen-year battle between the legislature, the governor, and the Indiana Supreme Court over who held the final power to control the state bureaucracy. Gates announced he would focus on three main areas while he served as governor; industrial growth, highway construction, and improved health care. He also urged the legislature to reform state taxes and spending and predicted a fall in tax revenues as the war ended. Gates became